Music Friday: Elton John Suffers From a Broken Heart in 2001's 'Dark Diamond'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you great songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, Elton John sings about suffering from a broken heart in 2001's "Dark Diamond."

In the song composed by John with lyrics by long-time collaborator Bernie Taupin, the term "dark diamond" is used to describe a person who once flourished as a "jewel" with a fire in his soul, but is now "hard and cold."

His beloved was the one star he could count on, the only one who could show him the true meaning of love. But his inability to "break through" caused him to lose his true love and now he has only himself to blame.

John sings, "Oh, I'm a dark diamond / I've turned hard and cold / Once was a jewel with fire in my soul / There's two sides of a mirror / One I couldn't break through / Stayed trapped on the inside, wound up losing you."

"Dark Diamond," which incorporates elements of blues, pop and R&B, appeared as the second track of Songs from the West Coast, John's 26th studio album. Listen carefully and you can hear music legend Stevie Wonder making a guest appearance on the harmonica.

Although the song was never released as a single, "Dark Diamond" still gets airplay in Scandinavia and Continental Europe. The album charted in 19 countries, including #15 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and #9 on the Canadian Albums chart.

Born Reginald Kenneth Dwight, the 71-year-old John is one of the best-selling music artists in the world. In a career that has spanned five decades, John has sold more than 300 million records. John and Taupin have collaborated on 30-plus albums and are credited with more than 50 Top 40 hits.

His single in honor of Princess Diana, “Candle in the Wind 1997,” sold more than 33 million copies worldwide, making it best-selling single in the history of the U.K. and U.S. singles charts.

Please check out the audio track of John performing "Dark Diamond." The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along...

"Dark Diamond"
Written by Bernie Taupin and Elton John. Performed by Elton John.

Oh, I'm a dark diamond
I've turned hard and cold
Once was a jewel with fire in my soul
There's two sides of a mirror
One I couldn't break through
Stayed trapped on the inside, wound up losing you

Tell me how does it work
How do you make things fit
Spent all my life trying to get it right
I've put it together and it falls apart
I thought to myself I might understand
But when the wall's built
And the heart hardens
You get a dark diamond
Dark diamond

Oh, I'm a dark diamond
But you're something else
You read me more than I read myself
The one star I could count on
Only comet I could trust
You burnt through my life to the true meaning of love

[Chorus 2X]

Credit: Image by Richard Mushet on Flickr (Elton John on Flickr) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

'Lotus Ring' Smashes Guinness World Record for the Most Diamonds Set in a Ring

The "Lotus Ring" has just smashed the Guinness World Record for the most diamonds set in a single ring. By employing an ingenious design featuring 48 individual diamond-encrusted "petals," Indian jewelers Vishal and Khushbu Agarwal were able to set a staggering 6,690 diamonds into an 18-karat rose gold structure.

The intricately detailed ring, which took more than six months to design and craft, is valued at $4.1 million and is heavier than a golf ball at 58 grams (2.05 ounces).

Over the past seven years, the "Most Diamonds Set in a Single Ring" record has changed hands three times.

The Lotus Ring captured the record previously held by Savio Jewellery's "Peacock Ring," which had established it own record in 2015, with 3,827 ideal-cut diamonds set in 18-karat gold. That ring had an estimated value of $2.7 million.

At the time, a spokesperson for the India-based Savio Jewellery company had told JCK magazine that the manufacturing process took three years to complete, with individual diamonds ranging in weight from 0.003 carats to .01 carats. The Peacock Ring's diamond count was 51% greater than that of the previous record holder, the "Tsarvena Swan," which held its title since 2011.

Vishal Agarwal is credited with coming up with the Lotus Ring design, while Khushbu Agarwal, the owner of Hanumant Diamonds, funded the project and provided the artisans to complete the fabrication.

The Agarwals are hoping that the Lotus Ring will help raise awareness about the importance of water conservation. As the national flower of India, the lotus depicts "the beauty growing in the water-world," according to Vishal and Khushbu, who are both based in Surat, India.

"As fame is so much attached to a Guinness World Records title, we can put it to good use by bringing together like-minded people to work towards a beautiful world," they said in a statement.

Please check out the video, below, which offers an insider's view at how the Lotus Ring was manufactured.

Screen captures via Instagram/guinnessworldrecords. Peacock Ring by Savio Jewellery.

For $145 Million, You Can Pop the Question While Orbiting the Dark Side of the Moon

Starting in 2022, the French ApoteoSurprise agency will be offering a week-long "Marriage Proposal Around the Moon," which will literally launch couples into space on a 500,000-kilometer journey to the moon and back.

Priced at $145 million, the proposal package includes all the requisite training and a few romantic touches along the way. The self-flying spacecraft, which will take off from Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla., will allow the lovers to travel without a pilot.

As their autonomous spacecraft accelerates off the launch pad, the couples will experience 3G forces. But, soon the agitation will give way to calm, according to ApoteoSurprise, as the first effects of weightlessness are felt. At that moment, Richard Strauss’s “Thus spoke Zarathustra, Op.30” (Theme from 2001 Space Odyssey) will be relayed to the space lovers' helmets.

With a top speed of 38,000 kmph (23,612 mph), the spacecraft will reach the moon in about three days. The flight plan will mirror that of the famous Apollo 8 mission of 1968.

The craft will survey the surface of the moon at an altitude of only 200 to 300 kilometers and then the spaceship will slow down and disappear behind the hidden face of the moon. For about 30 minutes, all communication with the Earth will become impossible, and now alone in space, the suitor will be ready to propose to his beloved as nobody has done before.

"Fly Me to the Moon" by Frank Sinatra will be played in the couples' headsets, as the future groom pulls the engagement ring out of the box that he secretly hid in his spacesuit.

Sinatra will be singing, "Fly me to the moon / Let me play among the stars / Let me see what spring is like / On a, Jupiter and Mars / In other words, hold my hand / In other words, baby, kiss me."

Once the craft emerges from the dark side of the moon, planet Earth will be rising on the horizon and communications with the Space Center will be re-established.

When the spacecraft approaches the Earth's atmosphere, the temperature of the heat shield will increase considerably, so that a bright plasma trail will be visible through the portholes, according to ApoteoSurprise. Halfway to the stratosphere, deceleration will get close to 5G, but then a few minutes later, the parachutes will be deployed and retro-rockets will allow the space capsule to land smoothly. Eight cameras will immortalize the trip from every angle.

The training component of this adventure is no walk in the park. It demands three months of intense preparations, including cardio training sessions, high-G training in a centrifuge, acclimation to microgravity through a series of parabolic flights on board a Boeing 727, acclimation to high accelerations and speed changes on board a fighter jet flying over Mach 2, complete presentation of the spaceship and of the flight schedule, stress management strategies and emergency simulations.

Founded in 2006 by aeronautical engineer Nicolas Garreau, ApoteoSurprise offers 30 all-inclusive proposal packages, including the surprise appearance of Cinderella’s carriage with its magical glass slipper, 1,000 roses raining down on a yacht during a dinner cruise, a carrier dove sent to the beloved’s home, a limousine ride to see a giant love message light up at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, or even the deployment of an aerobatic display team to draw a huge heart in the sky.

Credit: Image via ApoteoSurprise.

July Birthstone: TV Ad Pioneer Nearly Lost His 138-Carat 'Good Luck' Ruby in NYC Taxicab

Back in the late 1950s, TV advertising pioneer Rosser Reeves purchased an unmounted star ruby and carried it in his pocket for good luck.

This was no ordinary ruby. With its rich red color and well-defined star, the 138.72-carat ruby was said to be the largest and finest star ruby the world has ever known.

He called the stone "my baby" and protected it in a small velvet pouch. Today, we call it the "Rosser Reeves Star Ruby."

The advertising executive, who penned the M&Ms slogan, “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand,” was one of the most successful admen of his day. And he attributed much of his good luck to the beautiful scarlet stone.

One day in the early 1960s, Reeves took a taxi to New York's JFK Airport to connect with a flight to London. When Reeves arrived at Heathrow Airport, he realized that his "good luck" ruby had been left behind in the cab.

"He called the taxi company, and luckily, the driver had turned in the pouch," recounted Brendan Reeves, the advertising giant's great-grandson, at geogallery.si.edu. "After that harrowing experience, Reeves donated the ruby to the Smithsonian Institution."

Since 1965, the cabochon-cut Rosser Reeves Star Ruby has been one of the most prized possessions of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. It can be seen near the Hope Diamond and Logan Sapphire at the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals.

The famous ruby has an origin of Sri Lanka although it’s not clear when it was mined. According to published reports, gem dealer Robert Fisher purchased the stone at a London auction in 1953. At the time, it weighed 140 carats, but the asterism in the stone was slightly off center and the surface had abrasions.

It was subsequently cut down to 138.72 carats to give it a prettier appearance and bring the “star” closer to the center. The ruby had become so famous in its own right that it had been the subject of stories in the New York World-Telegram and The Sun as early as 1953.

Although Reeves — who passed away in 1984 at the age of 74 — often stated that he bought the stone at an auction in Istanbul in the mid-1950s, he actually purchased the recut stone from Fisher’s son, Paul, in the late 1950s.

The asterism is caused by titanium trapped in the corundum while the crystal is forming. As the crystal cools, the titanium orients itself as needle-like structures in three directions. A cabochon cut, with a smooth, rounded surface, allows the light to reflect off the titanium and give the appearance of a six-legged star.

Ruby is the official birthstone for the month of July.

Photo: Smithsonian Institution/Chip Clark.