Music Friday: 'Our Love Was a Diamond,' Sings Dan Fogelberg in 'Diamonds to Dust'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you awesome songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg compares his love to the hardest material known to man in the introspective "Diamonds to Dust."

In the song, Fogelberg decodes how even the strongest relationships can break down over time — and uses a precious gemstone to make his point. He sings, "Once there was love here / And once there was trust / Once it was honest / And open and just / Our love was a diamond / That grew between us / But time can turn even / Diamonds to Dust."

"Diamonds to Dust" appeared as seventh track from Fogelberg's album Love in Time. The album was released in September of 2009, nearly two years after the artist's untimely death at the age of 56. Fogelberg, who battled with cancer since 2004, had completed the songs for the album and put them in a safe deposit box. He asked his wife, Jean, to release the album after his death. Fogelberg passed away at his home in Deer Isle, Maine, on December 16, 2007. His ashes were scattered into the Atlantic Ocean.

When the album was released, Jean wrote, "His music continues — a living legacy to one of the most versatile and talented musicians, singers and songwriters of his generation."

Jean used the phrase "living legacy" as a nod to her husband's favorite, and most famous song, "Leader of the Band" (1981), which he wrote to honor his father, Lawrence, a high school band director. For that song, he penned the famous line, "I'm just a living legacy to the leader of the band."

Born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1951, Daniel Grayling "Dan" Fogelberg was the youngest of three sons. As an adolescent he taught himself to play a Hawaiian slide guitar — a gift from his grandfather. At age 14, he joined a Beatles cover band, The Clan, and by 1967 he was writing songs for another cover band, The Coachmen. By the late 1970s and into the early 1980s, Fogelberg was topping the charts with a string of platinum-selling albums and singles. His 1982 Greatest Hits album went triple platinum.

In a tribute to its hometown hero, the city of Peoria renamed Abington Street in the city's East Bluff neighborhood "Fogelberg Parkway."

Please check out the audio track of Fogelberg performing "Diamonds to Dust." The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along...

"Diamonds To Dust"
Written and performed by Dan Fogelberg.

Diamonds to Dust
Oh, Diamonds to Dust
Time can turn even
Diamonds to Dust

Love is a question
That few understand
It runs like a river
Between a woman and man
But its course can get twisted
And its bed can run dry
And our hearts become deserts
In the wink of an eye

Once there was love here
And once there was trust
Once it was honest
And open and just
Our love was a diamond
That grew between us
But time can turn even
Diamonds to Dust

(chorus)
Diamonds to Dust
Oh, Diamonds to Dust
Time can turn even
Diamonds to Dust
Time is a teacher
It’s kind and it’s cruel
It gives you the wisdom
To see you’re a fool
And it gives love and takes love
It hurts and it heals
And it never parts easy
With the truth it reveals

(chorus)

Credit: Screen capture via YouTube.com

Scientists Say Red Diamonds Could Replace GPS Systems, Make Driverless Cars a Reality

Sure, they're the ultimate symbol of love, but diamonds also have become the darling of the scientific community. We're starting to wonder: Is there anything a diamond can't do?

Back in November, we reported how imperfect diamonds could hold the key to the future of long-term, high-density data storage. Then, in December, we reviewed how a diamond battery made from nuclear waste could generate power for more than 5,000 years.

Now, we've learned how lab-grown red diamonds could replace GPS systems and help make driverless cars a reality. Wow.

A team at Element Six, a tech company based in Oxfordshire, England, report that red diamonds have a remarkable sensitivity to magnetic waves due to a "nitrogen vacancy defect" in their atomic lattice. Amazingly, these diamonds can currently detect a passing car at 300 meters away.

The scientists are suggesting that the diamonds could be programmed to pinpoint their own location on the earth by reading the magnetic waves from the sun. The new method of determining geolocation could render GPS satellites obsolete and make way for the future of driverless vehicles.

“If you have a device that is capable of sensing the surrounding magnetic fields, it also knows where it is,” noted principal research scientist Richard Bodkin. “So once you can harness all of those technologies into a single device, there is no reason why driverless cars can’t be realized.”

While the possibilities are fascinating, Element Six scientists said that diamond-guided geotracking could be decades away.

Incidentally, Element Six's primary business is developing diamond-infused cutting tools for heavy industry. The firm is principally owned by diamond mining giant De Beers.

Credit: DeYoung Red Diamond photo by Chip Clark/Smithsonian. Satellite rendering via GPS.gov.

Tennis Star Serena Williams Jokes That Her Engagement Diamond From Reddit's Alexis Ohanian Looks Like a Taco

Tennis star Serena Williams announced her engagement to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian on December 29, and for the past 10 days her fans have been clamoring for a closeup look at the ring.

On January 2, Williams joked with her five million Instagram followers by posting a photo of an engagement ring, with the diamond replaced by a taco. Her caption: "Sneak peek. It was a corn tortilla of course in case you were wondering."

Four days later, she took her antics one step farther by posting a romantic photo of her and her fiancé on a cobblestone street in Rome — the city where the 33-year-old Ohanian proposed. Williams, who is obsessed with tacos, is shown wearing a pair of Nike sneakers and a taco on her left ring finger where her diamond ring should be. She captioned the photo, "Can't resist a strong shoe game."

The original, unedited version of the same shot appears on Reddit under the title "Engagement Shoe Game." That photo, although taken from a distance, reveals a massive sparkler. Details of the shape of the stone, its carat weight and the setting style have yet to be released.

On December 29, the 35-year-old Williams posted to the "I Said Yes" subreddit a poem that described the details leading up to Ohanian's fairy tale marriage proposal.

She wrote, "I came home / A little late / Someone had a bag packed for me / And a carriage awaited / Destination: Rome / To escort me to my very own "charming" / Back to where our stars first collided / And now it was full circle / At the same table we first met by chance / This time he made it not by chance / But by choice / Down on one knee / He said 4 words / And / I said yes."

Along with the post was an adorable illustration of Williams and Ohanian, each rendered as an orange-eyed Snoo, the cartoon mascot of Reddit. The Ohanian Snoo is kneeling with a larger-than-life pink diamond in his hand. The Williams Snoo, dressed in a pink-and-white tennis outfit, seems to be levitating off the ground. The headline of the illustration reads: "Future Mrs. KnOthing," a nod to Ohanian's handle on Reddit.

Ohanian responded to the Reddit post by writing, “And you made me the happiest man on the planet.”

Williams added, "Edit: You're also a really cute Snoo. As I was drawing this for you, I thought, "Our Snoos should go out on a date sometime."

The power couple has been dating since October 2015, and E! News is reporting that the wedding is expected to take place in about a year.

Credits: Photos via Reddit.com; Instagram.com/serinawilliams.