Music Friday: Neil Diamond Sings, 'Gold Don't Rust, Love Don't Lie' in His 1996 Country Classic

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you awesome songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, the legendary Neil Diamond sings about how "gold don't rust" and "love don't lie" in a country classic from his 1996 Tennessee Moon album.

Diamond, who was a pre-med student at New York University and can certainly find his way around a periodic table, took an interesting fact about a chemical property of gold and spun it into a love song.

Besides its rarity, value and radiance, gold in its purest form is an element that will never oxidize or rust. That's why it's been used for jewelry and coinage for millennia.

In "Gold Don't Rust," Diamond assures his lover that she doesn't have to worry when he goes away. His feelings will continue to shine.

He offers her a 24-karat commitment, singing, "Gold don't rust / Love don't lie / I'll be true 'til the day that I die. / Trust in me, you will find / Baby, you're the gold in this heart of mine / And that gold will shine / For a long, long time."

"Gold Don't Rust," which Diamond co-wrote with Gary Burr and Bob DiPiero, was the seventh track of Diamond's 23rd studio album, Tennessee Moon. The album, appropriately, was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, which confirmed sales of more than 500,000 copies.

Over the course of his stellar 54-year career as a singer-songwriter-musician, Diamond has sold more than 100 million records worldwide. Billboard magazine ranks him third behind Elton John and Barbra Streisand on the list of the most successful adult contemporary artists of all time.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Diamond was a member of Erasmus Hall High School's Chorus and Choral Club along with close friend Streisand. Diamond got his first inspiration to write his own songs when folk singer Pete Seeger visited a summer camp he was attending as a teenager.

"And the next thing, I got a guitar when we got back to Brooklyn, started to take lessons and almost immediately began to write songs," he told Rolling Stone.

Just 10 credits short of an undergraduate degree from New York University, Diamond dropped out of college to take a 16-week assignment writing songs for Sunbeam Music Publishing. The job paid $50 per week. Later in his career, he would joke, "If this darn songwriting thing hadn't come up, I would have been a doctor now." The 75-year-old Diamond continues to tour regularly and his shows are said to be better than ever.

Scroll down for the audio track of Diamond's "Gold Don't Rust." The lyrics are here if you'd like to sing along...

"Gold Don't Rust"
Written by Gary Burr, Bob DiPiero and Neil Diamond. Performed by Neil Diamond.

I know you worry ev'ry time I go away
You wonder will these
Sweet, sweet feelings shine or fade
Well, that's a question
You don't have to ask
What heaven makes,
It always makes to last

Gold don't rust
Love don't lie
I'll be true 'til the day that I die
Trust in me, you will find
Baby,
You're the gold in this heart of mine
And that gold will shine
For a long, long time.

I wish that I could give you
What you need from me.
But what good
Is a promise or a guarantee?
Love is still a simple act of faith
And a faithful heart
Is always worth the wait

Gold don't rust
Love don't lie
I'll be true 'til the day that I die
Trust in me, you will find
Baby,
You're the gold in this heart of mine,
And that gold will shine
For a long, long time

Love is still a simple act of faith
And a faithful heart
Is always worth the wait
Gold don't rust
Love don't lie
I'll be true 'til the day that I die
Trust in me, you will find
Baby,
You're the gold in this heart of mine
And that gold will shine
For a long, long time
Baby you're the gold
In this heart of mine
And that gold will shine
For a long, long, long time
Yeah

Credit: By Gresbek (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons