Music Friday: Mark Collie's Girlfriend Wants 'Something With a Ring to It'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you fun songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, country star Mark Collie's 1990 ditty, "Something With a Ring to It," tells the story of a guy who's been getting the cold shoulder from his girlfriend. She's got "diamonds in her eyes" and wants to take their relationship to the next level. He's got to make a commitment or risk losing her.

In the song, Collie explains that his "baby's playing hard to please" and he's pretty sure he knows why.

He sings, "She wants something with a ring to it / Like a church bell makes / Like a pretty white gown to wear / And some vows to take / She wants something with a ring to it / I think I understand / I'll have to put a ring on her finger / If I want to be her man."

Collie told SongFacts.com about the unusual origin of the song. He and Aaron Tippin had been struggling writers "kicking around Nashville trying to get a door open." One day, Tippin flippantly said, "We need to write something with a ring to it." Collie said, "OK." And the off-hand remark became the basis of the song.

The team originally wrote the song for country legend George Strait, but when he declined, the head of MCA Nashville, Tony Brown, advised Collie to record it himself and make it his debut single.

The song became the second track of Collie's debut album, Hardin County Line, and was covered two years later by Garth Brooks on his 1992 album, The Chase.

Born in Waynesboro, Tenn., in 1956, George Mark Collie is a singer, songwriter, musician, actor, producer and fundraiser for Type 1 diabetes research. He has released five albums, and 16 of his singles have hit the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

Please check out the official video of "Something With a Ring to It." The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along...

"Something With a Ring to It"
Written by Mark Collie and Aaron Tippin. Performed by Mark Collie.

My baby's playing hard to please
And I think I figured out what it is she wants from me
'Cause when I holder her close
When we go out at night
I can hardly see the moonlight
For the diamonds in her eyes

She wants something with a ring to it
Like a church bell makes
Like a pretty white gown to wear
And some vows to take

She wants something with a ring to it
I think I understand
I'll have to put a ring on her finger
If I want to be her man

My baby did but now she don't
And if I don't say I do it's a safe bet that she won't
Love me like she used to
When our love began
Why the only way to change her tune
Is with a wedding band?

She wants something with a ring to it
Like a church bell makes
Like a pretty white gown to wear
And some vows to take

She wants something with a ring to it
I think I understand
I'll have to put a ring on her finger
If I want to be her man

She wants something with a ring to it
Like a church bell makes
Like a pretty white gown to wear
And some vows to take

She wants something with a ring to it
I think I understand
I'll have to put a ring on her finger
If I want to be her man

She wants something with a ring to it
If I want to be her man

Credit: Screen capture via YouTube.com.

Massive Stones Keep Coming: Botswana's Prolific Karowe Mine Yields 472-Carat Diamond

Lucara Diamond Corp. is continuing to recover massive diamonds at its Karowe Mine in Botswana. The latest find is a 472-carat "top light brown" gem that rates as the third-largest ever discovered at the prolific mine.

Karowe has assembled an impressive track record for producing the world’s largest fine diamonds. The 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona and the 813-carat Constellation were both mined there in November 2015. Four diamonds greater that 100 carats already have been recovered during the first quarter of 2018, according to the Vancouver-headquartered mining company.

The recent proliferation of massive stones at Karowe can be attributed to Lucara's investment in X-ray transmission (XRT) imaging technology. The new machines are calibrated to extract 100-carat-plus diamonds by monitoring X-ray luminescence, atomic density and transparency. Previously, large diamonds might have been mistaken as worthless rocks and pulverized by a crushing device.

“The early sampling work [at] Karowe was done with equipment that really was not optimal and they ended up breaking a lot of diamonds,” Chief Executive Officer Eira Thomas told Bloomberg.com. “When we went into commercial production we expected to do better, but we had no idea that the diamonds that were being broken were so much larger. ”

Interestingly, the largest diamond ever found at Karowe — the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona — was actually a chunk of a broken diamond. The other part weighed 373 carats.

The unnamed 472-carat rough diamond is expected to be sold alongside Lucara's other top finds of 2018 at the company's first Exceptional Stone Tender later this year.

Lucara's roster of extremely large stones have generated seven-figure paydays for the company. Lesedi La Rona was sold for $53 million; Constellation earned $63 million; and the chunk that broke off Lesedi La Rona delivered $17.5 million.

While brown-tinted diamonds tend to yield lower prices than colorless or fancy-colored diamonds, Thomas — also known as Canada's Queen of Diamonds — believes the extraordinary size of Lucara's newest find may alter the standard valuation process. She told Bloomberg.com that some manufacturers may actually choose to accentuate the color through polishing.

“They tend to command a lot of interest because there are a variety of views on what can be done with stones of that color,” said Thomas.

The 472-carat diamond currently occupies the 31st position on the Wikipedia list of the largest rough diamonds of all time. Lesedi La Rona rates #2 and the Constellation is #7.

Credit: Image courtesy of Lucara Diamond Corp.

Yale's Peabody Museum Showcases Stunning, Rarely Seen Formations of California Gold

One of the world's finest collections of California gold made its debut Saturday at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, Conn. The exhibition features 23 natural formations of gold, some of which resemble leaves, coral and skeletons.

“The Mockingbird” measures 2.5 x 2.0 x 1.0 inches and features skeletal octahedral gold crystals stacked on minor quartz crystals. It was discovered at the Mockingbird Mine, Mariposa County, Calif.

Most were collected over the past 25 years, although two specimens of crystallized gold were mined in the 1850s during the California Gold Rush.

“The Eagle,” which measures 2.5 x 2.5 x 2.0 inches, was mined in the 1850s in Placer County, Calif. It features clusters of octahedral hopper gold crystals.

“This collection is incredible,” said Richard Kissel, the Peabody’s director of exhibitions and public programs. “The gold specimens on view are of superior quality — impressive physically and stunning aesthetically. The exhibit highlights the specimens’ beauty while offering insight into the history and science of gold mining.”

“Colorado Quartz 2” measures 2.37 x 1.6 x 1.0 inches. The stacked gold exhibits sharp octahedral crystals with minor quartz. This specimen was found at the Harvard Mine in Tuolumne County, Calif.

The Peabody Museum brings the California Gold Rush to life by presenting historical instruments and artifacts. These include a mining pan filled with gold dust, a balance for weighing specimens, an instrument for measuring the velocity of air in mines to ensure proper ventilation, a field chemical lab called a “blowpipe kit,” and a silver candlestick decorated with mining-related symbols that miners used for illumination while underground.

“The Little Flame” is a crystallized leaf gold that weighs 13.05 troy ounces. It was found at the Eagle’s Nest Mine in Placer County, Calif.

“This is one of the finest collections of gold specimens ever put on display anywhere in the world,” said Jay Ague, the Peabody’s curator-in-charge of mineralogy and meteoritics.

“Colorado Quartz 1” measures 7.0 x 5.5 x 5.0 inches and weighs 58.68 troy ounces. The piece has gold plates on and in quartz, octahedral gold crystals and dendritic gold. Its origin is the Colorado Quartz Mine in Mariposa County, Calif.

The exhibition also gives Yale University an opportunity to remind visitors of the school's interesting connection to the California Gold Rush. Seven years before gold was discovered in the American River at Sutter’s Mill, Yale professor James Dwight Dana had completed a tour of California’s Sacramento Valley. A pioneering geologist and mineralogist, Dana identified the region as a potential source of gold, remarking that the rocks there “resemble in many parts the gold bearing rocks of other regions: but the gold, if any there be, remains to be discovered.”

The gold specimens and artifacts are on loan to the Peabody from The Mineral Trust. The collection had previously appeared at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Credits: Photos by Harold Moritz, courtesy of Yale University.