Music Friday: Alicia Keys Sings, ‘You Can Buy Me Diamonds, You Can Buy Me Pearls’ in Her 2001 Hit, ‘A Woman’s Worth’

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you spectacular songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today’s gem of a song is “A Woman’s Worth” by the multitalented Alicia Keys.

In this soulful ballad written for her 2001 debut album, “Songs in A Minor,” Keys sings about being worthy of the kindness of others, because she’s worth it. In the opening verse, she states, “You could buy me diamonds / You could buy me pearls / Take me on a cruise around the world / Baby you know I'm worth it.”

In March of 2002, Keys revealed in a webchat for The Sun newspaper that “A Woman’s Worth” was inspired by a Loreal cosmetics commercial and its legendary advertising catch phrase, “Because I’m worth it.”

Keys was watching TV at a friend’s house during Thanksgiving when the Loreal commercial sparked an idea. “There was this one commercial that said, 'Because I'm worth it.' And you know what? I AM worth it," she exclaimed during the webchat.

And, hence, a song was born.

Once released, this song about self-worth and self-esteem met with critical acclaim. “A Woman’s Worth” won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Song in 2002 and was nominated for both Best R&B Video and Best Cinematography at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards. It charted in 15 countries and peaked at #7 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Keys would go on to perform the song at the 2002 Grammy Awards ceremony.

Keys has sold more than 65 million records worldwide and was named one of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time by VH1 in 2010. Billboard magazine named her the top R&B Songs Artist of the 2000s decade.

Check out Keys’ awesome live performance of “A Woman’s Worth.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along.

"A Woman's Worth"
Written by Alicia Keys and Erika Rose. Performed by Alicia Keys

You could buy me diamonds
You could buy me pearls
Take me on a cruise around the world
Baby you know I'm worth it
Dinner lit by candles
Run my bubble bath
Make love tenderly to last and last
Baby you know I'm worth it

Wanna please wanna keep wanna treat your woman right
Not just dough but to show that you know she is worth your time
You will lose if you chose to refuse to put her first
She will and she can find a man who knows her worth

Mmm
Cause a real man, knows a real woman when he sees her
And a real woman knows a real man ain't afraid to please her
And a real woman knows a real man always comes first
And a real man just can't deny a woman’s worth

Mm Hmm Mm Hmmm
Mm Hmm Mm Hmmm
Mm Hmm Mm Hmmm
Mm

If you treat me fairly
I'll give you all my goods
Treat you like a real woman should
Baby I know you're worth it
If you never play me
Promise not to bluff
I'll hold you down when it gets rough
Cause baby I know you're worth it

She walks the mile makes you smile all the while being true
Don't take for granted the passions that she has for you
You will lose if you chose to refuse to put her first
She will and she can find a man who knows her worth

Oh
Cause a real man knows a real woman when he sees her
And a real woman knows a real man ain't afraid to please her
And a real woman knows a real man always comes first
And a real man just can't deny a woman's worth

No need to read between the lines spelled out for you (spelled out for you)
Just hear this song cause you can't go wrong when you value (better value)
A woman's (woman's)
Woman's (woman's)
WORTH!

Cause a real man knows a real woman when he sees her
And a real woman knows a real man ain't afraid to please her
And a real woman knows a real man always comes first
And a real man just can't deny a woman's worth

[Repeat until end]

Screen capture via YouTube.

Oregon Woman Is Literally Floored When Hubby Proposes With the Engagement Ring She Lost 15 Years Ago

A heartwarming YouTube video showing a middle-aged woman literally floored by the sight of her long-lost engagement ring is blowing up the Internet with more than 1.1 million video views and subsequent news coverage on Inside Edition, Huffington Post, AOL, The Daily Mail and more.

Portland, Ore., resident Kay Butler told Inside Edition that her engagement ring was the most precious thing she owned and that she was devastated when she misplaced it 15 years ago.

A few weeks ago, the ring turned up when Kay’s husband, Dave, was moving around some old CDs in a china cabinet. There, behind the CDs was a heart-shaped wooden box with the ring inside.

The couple’s daughter, Lacey, and her dad thought it would be a great idea if Dave surprised Kay with a marriage proposal on bended knee — just as he’d done more than 38 years ago when they were high school sweethearts.

Lacey told Inside Edition, "I looked at him and I said, 'Dad, you got to do this right.' He was like, 'I know, come up with something good.' I was like, 'You just got to propose again.'" Dave agreed.

Lacey shot an iPhone video of her dad waiting patiently on bended knee in the family’s workshop. He’s holding the ring behind his back while Kay is rummaging through the pantry. When she turns around, she gives her husband an odd look — as if to say, “Why are you kneeling?”

Dave then presents the ring and asks Kay if she will marry him. Recognizing her long-lost ring, Kay collapses into a heap on the floor, landing in a seated position. When she finally gathers herself, she pops up to her knees, stares at the ring and says to Dave, “No way. Where did you find that?”

Kay and Dave share a tender embrace and then the emotional bride excitedly tries on the ring she thought was gone forever. “And it fits!” she exclaimed as she slipped it on.

Lacey told Inside Edition that her mom likes to put her valuables in a “safe place,” but the safe place isn’t always in the same spot.

When the ring was lost 15 years ago, Kay said that she "tore the place apart" in an attempt to find it. She recruited her kids and her friends to assist, but they all came up empty.

Check out the Butler family's viral video below…

Screen captures: Inside Edition; YouTube

No Joke: German Scientist Is Making Diamonds From Peanut Butter

You might find this hard to believe, but a German scientist is turning ordinary peanut butter into diamonds. Yep, the delicious nutty spread that you have in your cupboard is the exact material Dan Frost, a geologist from the Bayerisches Geoinstitut, is using to produce man-made diamonds.

Now, before you go out and invest in cases of Jif, Skippy or Peter Pan, it’s important to know just how Frost gets the mushy inexpensive peanut butter to transform into the world’s hardest and most coveted gemstone.

The formation of natural diamonds occurs when carbon-rich material is exposed to the extreme temperatures and pressures of the Earth’s mantle about 500 miles below the surface. Temperatures at that depth are 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit and the pressure is 1.3 million times greater than the atmosphere.

To recreate this environment in his lab, Frost takes the carbon-rich peanut butter and cooks it in a furnace while squeezing it with a piston until it’s at 280,000 atmospheres of pressure. The heat and pressure force the carbon atoms to rearrange themselves into denser matter. Then, the already-dense crystals are squeezed a second time using an anvil composed of gem-quality diamonds. This process generates about 1.3 million atmospheres of pressure.

The result of the high-tech peanut butter torture test is a lab-created diamond suitable for industrial purposes, but not for jewelry. Frost acknowledges that the process is a slow and arduous one. It takes weeks to produce a diamond 3mm in diameter (about 0.10 carats).

Specifically, Frost believes that his peanut butter-based diamonds can be used to build better semiconductors in electronics and super-strong material for industrial applications.

Image: BigStockPhoto.com

Dumpster Diver and Diligent Police Department Help Reunite Calif. Woman With Her Lost Diamond Ring

A California woman is singing the praises of an extraordinarily honest dumpster diver and the Porterville Police Department after she was miraculously reunited with the custom-made diamond ring she accidentally threw away four months ago when cleaning out her car at a gas station.

Porterville, Calif., resident Treesha Flores could barely believe her eyes when local police officers returned her lost ring last Wednesday.

"I am speechless, definitely speechless, but excited,” Flores told Fox-TV affiliate KMPH. “It's nice. It feels normal again, like a piece of me was missing." The elaborate diamond ring, featuring an unusual bezel-set pear-shaped center diamond, had been a gift from her husband.

Flores first realized her diamond ring was missing after taking a trip to the San Francisco Bay Area with her 12-year-old daughter, Selicia. Flores’ daughter remembered seeing the ring in a small makeup case when they were in the hotel, but couldn’t pinpoint where or when it became misplaced.

After arriving home and realizing the ring was gone, they called the hotel multiple times, but the ring didn’t turn up.

“We figured whoever found it in the hotel room, kept it,” Treesha told the Porterville Recorder.

Added Selicia, “I just really thought it was my fault and I felt so bad."

Actually, Treesha and Selicia had accidentally dropped the makeup case in a Chevron station trash bin on the way home from their trip. They were cleaning out their car during a fuel stop and the case got mixed in with the refuse.

From the trash bin, the case ended up in a much larger dumpster, and this is where one of our heroes enters the story. A dumpster diver, who was looking for cans, bottles and other useable items, found the case and its very valuable contents, and “did the right thing” by turning it in to the gas station’s proprietor.

The proprietor called the local police authorities, who not only contacted the local media to publicize the fact that they possessed a missing ring, but also put a notice on the department’s Facebook page and researched the ring’s trademark.

The JAVDA trademark led the police to the designer, who was able to match the ring with the owner because it was a one-of-a-kind piece. Treesha also possessed a sales slip and appraisal document that confirmed her ownership.

Treesha told KMPH, “The police went above and beyond in order to get this back to me. They contacted the manufacturer. They really did more than they had to and I'm grateful for that."

She had also planned to thank the man who found the ring in the dumpster and the proprietor who turned the ring in to the police.

California law requires police departments to hold lost valuables for 90 days in order to give rightful owners sufficient time to claim them. After the 90-day period, the item becomes the property of the person who found it. Treesha was reunited with her ring eight days before the 90-day period was set to expire.

Images: Video captures via KMPH-KFRE.com; Ring closeup via Porterville Police Department.

London Jeweler Laurence Graff Wins Back 8.6-Carat ‘Graff Ruby' for $8.6M, Setting Two Auction Records

Just one day after the 392-carat “Blue Belle of Asia” sapphire set a world record when it fetched $17.3 million at Christie’s Geneva, rival Sotheby’s Geneva claimed two auction records with the sale of the 8.6-carat “Graff Ruby” for $8.6 million.

The gem, which was scooped up for a second time by its namesake, Laurence Graff, now owns auction records for the highest price ever paid for a ruby, as well as the highest price per carat for a ruby at $997,727. The selling price nearly reached the high end of Sotheby's pre-sale estimate of $6.8 million to $9 million.

The London jeweler, who is famous for his purchases of world-class diamonds and colored gemstones, first acquired the spectacular cushion-cut “pigeon blood” ruby at an auction more than eight years ago. It’s been reported that Graff’s most recent winning bid of $8.6 million at Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels auction was more than double what he paid for the gem originally.

Sotheby’s called the “Graff Ruby” a “gem among gems,” and, in 2006, Graff had told Bloomberg News that “the cut and spread of color is the finest I have ever seen.”

The "Graff Ruby" is set in an impressive ring designed by Graff. The ruby is centered between triangular diamond shoulders within a mounting decorated throughout with brilliant-cut diamonds. Sotheby’s offered the “Graff Ruby” with an alternative ring mounting, also designed by Graff.

"This is the finest ruby in the world," Graff said in a Sotheby's statement. "We are very proud to have it in our possession for the second time."

Until last week’s auction, the “Graff Ruby” was part of the collection of jewelry connoisseur and Greek financier Dimitri Mavrommatis. Sixteen of Mavrommatis’ jewels were among the 403 sold at Sotheby’s Geneva last Wednesday.

Video captures via sothebys.com. Other images: Sotheby's.