Music Friday: Mick Jagger Sings About a High-Society Girl's Diamonds in 1965's 'Play With Fire'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you super throwback songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones shine the spotlight on diamonds in their timeless tune, “Play With Fire.”

A song that takes a critical look at the lifestyle of Jagger’s high-society girlfriend, “Play With Fire” starts off with the line, “Well, you’ve got your diamonds and you’ve got your pretty clothes / And the chauffeur drives your car / You let everybody know / But don’t play with me, ’cause you’re playing with fire.”

Jagger warns his girlfriend that even though she enjoys a privileged lifestyle, she could get burned and lose it all.

"Play With Fire" is officially credited to Nanker Phelge, the pseudonym used when the whole band collaborated on a track, but SongFacts.com reports that lead singer Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards were the only band members awake when the song was recorded very late one night at RCA Studios in January of 1965.

Music legend states that record producer Phil Spector stepped in on bass guitar, his assistant, Jack Nitzsche, played harpsichord and a night janitor helped out with backup vocals.

In a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Jagger said the song still sounds “amazing.”

“I mean, it’s a very in-your-face kind of sound and very clearly done,” Jagger said. “You can hear all the vocal stuff on it. And I’m playing the tambourines, the vocal line. You know, it’s very pretty.”

Relegated to the B-side of their single, “The Last Time,” “Play With Fire” met with only marginal commercial success. It topped out at #96 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Despite that lukewarm reception, the song has stood the test of time.

The Stones seemed to have a fondness for the song, as it was performed in concerts during 1965 and 1966, and then revived more than two decades later when the band toured in 1989 and 1990.

Original band members Jagger, Richards and drummer Charlie Watts are still performing in their 56th year together. The group has released 30 studio albums, 23 live albums and numerous compilations. Overall, The Rolling Stones are credited with more than 250 million album sales. They are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and were ranked fourth on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time.”

We hope you enjoy the original audio track of The Rolling Stones performing “Play With Fire.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along.

“Play With Fire”
Written by Nanker Phelge (The Rolling Stones). Performed by The Rolling Stones.

Well, you’ve got your diamonds and you’ve got your pretty clothes
And the chauffeur drives your car
You let everybody know
But don’t play with me, ’cause you’re playing with fire

Your mother she’s an heiress, owns a block in Saint John’s Wood
And your father’d be there with her
If he only could
But don’t play with me, ’cause you’re playing with fire

Your old man took her diamonds and tiaras by the score
Now she gets her kicks in Stepney
Not in Knightsbridge anymore
So don’t play with me, ’cause you’re playing with fire

Now you’ve got some diamonds and you will have some others
But you’d better watch your step, girl
Or start living with your mother
So don’t play with me, ’cause you’re playing with fire
So don’t play with me, ’cause you’re playing with fire

Credit: Image by Jim Pietryga (https://www.iorr.org/tour15/) [CC BY-SA 3.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons.

Did You Know That Spinel Is an Official Birthstone for the Month of August?

The modern birthstone list has been amended only three times in the past 106 years, so when the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) and Jewelers of America (JA) announced in 2016 that spinel would be joining peridot as an official birthstone for the month of August, the news surprised jewelers and gem fans alike.

Available in a rainbow of vibrant colors — but best known as a ruby doppelgänger — the spinel presents a beautiful alternative to the yellow-green peridot. Part of the stone's intrigue is that it has been misidentified for so many years. In fact, the International Colored Gemstone Association (ICA) called spinel “the great impostor of gemstone history” because some of the world's most famous “rubies” are actually spinels.

The 170-carat Black Prince Ruby, which is prominently displayed on the Imperial State Crown of England, is actually an irregular cabochon red spinel. The 361-carat Timur Ruby, which was presented by the East India Company to Queen Victoria as a gift in 1851, was later identified as a spinel. And the 398-carat ruby-red gem that tops the Imperial Crown of Russia commissioned by Catherine the Great in 1763 turned out to be... a spinel.

According to the Smithsonian, it wasn’t until 1783 that spinel was recognized as a mineral distinct from corundum (ruby and sapphire). Ruby is composed of aluminum oxide, while spinel is made of magnesium aluminum oxide. Both get their reddish color from impurities of chromium in their chemical structure.

“At certain moments in history, when there is a strong call from gem enthusiasts to expand the list of official birthstones, Jewelers of America believes in recognizing the importance of historically significant gemstones and giving gemstone lovers a choice that suits their preferences,” JA President and CEO David Bonaparte said in 2016.

While spinel is best known for its ability to imitate the color of ruby, the gem also comes in soft pastel shades of pink and purple, fiery oranges, and cool hues ranging from powdery gray to intense blue. It is a durable gem with a hardness of 8.0 on the Mohs scale. By comparison, diamond rates a 10 and ruby rates a 9.

Established in 1912 by the American National Retail Jewelers Association (now known as JA), the modern birthstone list was updated in 1952 to add alexandrite (June), citrine (November), tourmaline (October) and zircon (December). The listed was amended again in 2002 when tanzanite joined the group of December birthstones.

Some of the most beautiful spinels — especially the pink, red and orange-red varieties — are found in Myanmar. They’re also sourced from Afghanistan, Brazil, Cambodia, Kenya, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand and Vietnam.

Credits: Gem photo by D. Penland/Smithsonian. Imperial State Crown of England by Cyril Davenport (1848 – 1941) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

12th 100-Plus-Carat Diamond of 2018 Establishes New Record for Letšeng Mine in Lesotho

Back in January, Gem Diamonds announced the discovery of a gem-quality, 910-carat diamond at its Letšeng Mine. The D-color, Type IIa stone — which was later named the Lesotho Legend — was billed as the fifth-largest gem-quality diamond ever recovered. The rough gem sold in March for a whopping $40 million.

Since then, Lesotho's Letšeng mine has been riding a wave of 100-plus-carat discoveries, the latest of which was a 138-carat, top white color, Type IIa gem (above). It was the 12th 100-plus-carat diamond recovered in 2018, surpassing the previous mark of 11 established in 2017. With four-plus months left in the calendar year, we expect the record will fall again.

The Letšeng mine has earned the reputation for producing large, exceptional white diamonds and generating more dollars per carat than any other kimberlite diamond mine in the world.

Over the past few years, mining companies, such as Gem Diamonds and Lucara, have invested in technology to improve their recovery of extraordinarily large diamonds.

Previously, the mining methods employed to process diamond-bearing rock were not designed to protect the largest finds. The ore was drilled, blasted, hauled and put through crushing machines to get to the gems that may be hiding within. During that process, extremely large diamonds, some weighing hundreds of carats, were often damaged or even pulverized.

Both Gem Diamonds and Lucara recently installed bigger, costlier filters and laser identification technology so huge diamonds can be cherry picked before they go through the crushing process. The investments are clearly paying dividends.

Gem Diamonds maintains a 70% stake in Letšeng mine, with the government of Lesotho holding the remaining 30%. Since Gem Diamonds established a stake in the mine in 2006, the output of 100-plus-carat diamonds has surpassed 60.

Credit: Image courtesy of Gem Diamonds.