Music Friday: Eddie Murphy Buys His Girl Champagne, Roses and Diamond Rings in 1985’s ‘Party All the Time’

Comic actor Eddie Murphy is America’s fourth top-grossing movie star, with worldwide box office sales of $6.8 billion. But did you know that he also came thisclose to topping the Billboard music charts in 1985 with his hit song, “Party All the Time”?

The disco-era ditty he penned with Rick James is about a heartbroken lover who wonders why his girlfriend likes to party without him even though he lavishes her with expensive gifts, including diamond rings. He sings, “I buy you champagne and roses and diamonds on your finger (Diamonds on your finger) / Still you hang out all night / What am I to do?”

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you fun — and often nostalgic — songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title.

Coming off a successful run on TV’s Saturday Night Live and a Golden Globe nomination for his role as Axel Foley in the movie Beverly Hills Cop, Murphy found himself in an exciting, but strange, new venue — James’ music recording studio in Buffalo, N.Y. Besides co-writing “Party All the Time,” the famed “Super Freak” artist produced and arranged the song, provided backup vocals and even appeared in the music video.

The catchy hook, "My girl wants to party all the time, party all the time, party all the time," proved irresistible to the masses and the song quickly ascended to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It could have been #1, but failed to nudge Lionel Richie’s “Say You, Say Me” out of that spot.

Now, nearly 30 years after its release, “Party All the Time” is trying to find its rightful place in music history. While VH-1, Blender and AOL Radio ranked it on their lists of the “Worst Songs Ever,” FOX TV’s Glee featured Gwyneth Paltrow (as Holly Holliday) singing “Party All the Time” in a March 2014 episode.

Please check out the music video of Murphy performing “Party All the Time.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along.

"Party All the Time"
Written by Rick James and Eddie Murphy. Performed by Eddie Murphy.

Girl
I can't understand it why you want to hurt me
After all the things I've done for you.
I buy you champagne and roses and diamonds on your finger -
Diamonds on your finger -
Still you hang out all night
what am I to do?

My girl wants to party all the time

Party all the time
party all the time.
My girl wants to party all the time
party all the time.

She parties all the time party all the time
She likes to party all the time party all the time
Party all the time she likes to party all the time
Party all the time.

Girl
I've seen you in clubs just hanging out and dancing.
You give your number to every man you see.
You never come home at night because you're out romancing
I wish you bring some of your love home to me.

But my girl wants to party all the time
My girl wants to party all the time

Party
Party
party she likes to party all the time.
She likes to party all the time
She lets her hair down
she lets her body down,
She lets her body
She lets her body down.
Party all the time do you want to get any party
Yeah.
Party all the time party all the time.

Jeweler on Remote Island of Gozo Helps British Tabloid Break Story of Angelina Jolie’s $4M Wedding Gift to Brad Pitt

Thanks to a jeweler on the tiny island of Gozo, a British tabloid got all the clues it needed to break the story Monday of Angelina Jolie’s very special, $4 million wedding gift to Brad Pitt.

The Mirror reported that the jeweler was asked by a friend of the supercouple to inscribe the back of a rare 1952 Patek Philippe platinum chronometer with the phrase, “To Roly from Nessa." These just happen to be the names of the characters Pitt and Jolie play in their new movie, By the Sea. And, yes, they’re currently filming on the picturesque island of Gozo, just off the coast of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea.

“I did inscribe the watch. It was for Brad, and it was a rare one," George Farrugia of Dolindo Jewellers told The Mirror. "It was very valuable."

Farrugia’s assessment of “very valuable” may be just a bit of an understatement.

Back in November of 2012, a platinum 1952 Patek Philippe J.B. Champion Platinum Observatory Chronometer with a diamond-set dial was the top lot in a Christie’s Geneva auction, fetching a staggering $3.99 million.

Jolie’s wedding gift to Pitt is believed to be that watch.

Faced with the challenge of inscribing a $4 million watch, Farrugia was hardly flustered.

“I wasn’t nervous about the inscription because I knew I could do the work perfectly,” he told The Mirror.

Pitt and Jolie wed in France last month after nine years of dating. The Hollywood couple, sometimes known by the combined name, “Brangelina,” is said to have a combined wealth of $400 million.

The platinum watch revelation has put the international spotlight on Gozo, an island that is part of Malta. It has a population of 37,000 and its residents are called Gozitans. Gozo is a five-hour ferry ride from Sicily.

(Image top of page: Publicity photo from the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith.)

‘Steamboat’ Tourmaline Is One of the World’s Greatest Examples of October’s Birthstone

Standing 11 inches tall and hailing from San Diego County, California, the “Steamboat” tourmaline is one of the greatest examples of the October birthstone you may ever see.

The specimen’s two parallel crystals (which look like steamboat stacks) display a range of vibrant colors that start at vivid reddish-pink at the bottom and transition to a bright bluish-green at the top. The tourmaline crystals rise out of a base of Cleavelandite, which is perched atop a large quartz crystal (not shown).

Frank Barlow Schuyler is credited with discovering the fascinating formation at the Tourmaline King Mine in 1907. Three years earlier, Schuyler and a partner, D.G. Harrington, quite literally stumbled upon an enormous pocket of tourmaline crystals while searching for pegmatite in the Pala Chief Mountains.

Schuyler soon discovered that the tourmaline-rich pocket extended 30 feet in length and 10 feet wide, a single zone that would yield about eight tons of beautiful pink tourmaline. Schuyler would eventually sell most of the bounty to the Imperial Chinese government for $187.50 per pound — a tidy sum in those days.

By 1915, Schuyler was still riding the wave of his tourmaline-based good fortune. At the Panama Pacific International Exhibition in San Francisco, the owner of the Tourmaline King Mine marketed his gems with the slogan, “Wear a tourmaline for luck.” See his calling card, above.

The “Steamboat” tourmaline was later purchased by master engineer Washington A. Roebling, who included it in his collection of 16,000 mineral specimens. Roebling was most famous for designing the Brooklyn Bridge.

Roebling’s son, John, donated the “Steamboat” to the Smithsonian Institution, where it is has been on permanent display at the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals, which is part of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC.

Tourmaline shares the honor of being October’s Official Birthstone with opal.

Steamboat image: Courtesy of Hammer + Gem

Gold Puzzle Ring and Gold Nugget Stick Pins Are Among the Treasures Pulled From 157-Year-Old Wreck

An intricate gold puzzle ring and gold nugget stick pins are among the precious items salvaged this summer from the SS Central America, a steamship that perished in mile-deep water during a hurricane in 1857.

Deep-water specialists Odyssey Marine Exploration, which is heading up the recovery efforts, also reclaimed 45 gold bars, more than 15,500 gold and silver coins, and 59 additional pieces of gold jewelry — many featuring gold nuggets.

The 280-foot-long, wooden-hulled, side-wheel “Ship of Gold” was en route to New York from San Francisco via the Panama Canal when it got caught up in a fateful storm about 130 miles off the coast of South Carolina.

The tragedy took 425 lives and left nearly a half-million ounces of gold bars and freshly minted coins at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The SS Central America rested undisturbed for the next 131 years.

The wreck was finally discovered in 1988, but despite the efforts of the Columbus-America Discovery Group, only 5% of the site had been explored before legal entanglements shut the project down.

Another 16 years elapsed before Odyssey Marine Exploration earned the rights to excavate the site. The company will receive 80% of recovery proceeds until a fixed fee and a negotiated day rate are paid. Thereafter, Odyssey will receive 45% of the recovery proceeds.

This past April, a successful reconnaissance dive 1.3 miles below the surface resulted in a haul of nearly 1,000 ounces in gold bars and coins, much of it sitting exposed on the ocean floor.

Odyssey’s President & COO Mark Gordon told Fox News that the most spectacular piece to be recovered to date is a gold puzzle ring. Devised centuries ago and intended as bridal jewelry, the clever mechanical puzzle is made up of six interconnecting loops that come apart easily but are difficult to put back together. Once reassembled, the ring locks together with a two clasping hands.

Because the ship and its passengers were traveling from San Francisco during the era of the California Gold Rush, it’s not surprising that gold stick pins found in the rubble featured large gold nuggets.

The largest gold bar recovered, so far, was 10 inches long and weighed 22 pounds. The value of the precious metal alone is approximately $428,000.

Odyssey’s Gordon noted that although he and his team have suspended this initial phase of exploration to allow for repairs and to review their progress, the group will likely return to the SS Central America site before the end of the 2015 season.

Images: Courtesy of Odyssey Marine Exploration

Toyota's Innovative 'Diamond Architecture' Draws Design Inspiration From Jeweler's Showcase

Toyota’s stunning new concept car — the C-HR compact SUV — reflects the company’s innovative “diamond architecture,” a styling theme that draws its inspiration right from the jeweler’s showcase.

Set to make its world debut this Thursday at the Paris Motor Show, the C-HR concept car boasts a lower bodywork that Toyota designers have sculpted to look like the faceted surfaces of a precision-cut gemstone, according to Toyota.

From the side, the highly faceted lower body, aggressively angular rear shoulders and muscular wheel arches are contrasted with an exceptionally sleek cabin profile. At the rear, distinctive, aero-inspired “floating” lamp clusters add further emphasis to the vehicle’s angular broad-shouldered look.

The hybrid-powered prototype, shown in a brilliant purplish-blue hue, might be mistaken for a 14-foot tanzanite — if you use your imagination and squint your eyes just a bit.

We can’t wait to see Toyota’s color palette for the C-HR line. Will Toyota coordinate the car colors to align with popular gemstones, such as red rubies, green emeralds or, perhaps, black diamonds?

The company hinted that the “faceted” look of the C-HR represents the future design direction for all Toyota vehicles.

Car enthusiasts see the high-style, high-riding C-HR as Toyota’s answer to Nissan’s compact sporty utility vehicle — the Juke.