Music Friday: A Polished Diamond Is Feeling Kinda Rough in Heart’s ‘There’s the Girl’

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you great songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today we feature the incomparable Wilson sisters — also known as Heart — performing “There’s the Girl,” a song about a "diamond" of a guy who keeps returning to a toxic relationship.

The first lines of “There’s the Girl” go like this: “You’re a polished diamond / Now you’re feeling kinda rough / Yes I know how long you been searching / for the perfect touch.”

Co-writers Nancy Wilson and Holly Knight use diamond metaphors to describe a guy who can’t get over an old flame even though she’s a “complete disaster.” He’s a polished diamond (a great guy), and the prospect of reconnecting with his ex-girlfriend has his heart beating faster. But Wilson knows this situation is not going to end well.

At the Albany, NY, Palace Theater in 2015, Wilson explained why she wrote the song for her best friend back in the 1980s.

"My guy friend fell in love with a terribly wrong girl," she told the audience. "And when you're best friends you can't really make the mistake for them. You just have to stand by and watch it happen."

“There’s the Girl” is special to Heart fans because the lead vocals are performed by guitarist Nancy Wilson, not Ann, whose towering voice has been a hallmark of the band since it was established in Seattle, WA, in 1967. In fact, many fans never realized Nancy sang the lead vocals for this song until they saw the music video or were lucky enough to attend a Heart performance.

“There’s the Girl” is the third track from Heart’s ninth studio album, Bad Animals. In 1987, it climbed as high as #12 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart — one of 20 Top-40 singles credited to the band. Over their illustrious careers, the Wilson sisters have sold more than 35 million records worldwide. They scored seven Top-10 albums and earned four Grammy nominations. Heart was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.

The sisters revealed in an interview that they were both inspired to form a rock band when they saw the Beatles perform on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.

“The lightning bolt came out of the heavens and struck Ann and me the first time we saw the Beatles,” Nancy Wilson told Maura Kelly of Believer Magazine in 2007. “There’d been so much anticipation and hype about the Beatles that it was a huge event, like the lunar landing. That was the moment Ann and I heard the call to become rock musicians.”

We know you will enjoy the official video of “There’s the Girl.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

“There’s the Girl”
Written by Holly Knight and Nancy Wilson. Performed by Heart.

You’re a polished diamond
Now you’re feeling kinda rough
Yes I know how long you been searching
for the perfect touch
You better hear what I say
I can tell your eyes are just about to
give you away

Cause there’s the girl
that you were after
Feel your heart beating faster now
There’s the girl that you were after
Can you say that you don’t
want her anymore

Just take my word now
Cause you know it’s true
she ain’t good enough
for the likes of you
You better hear what I say
I can tell your eyes are just about
to give you away

Cause there’s the girl
that you were after
Feel your heart beating faster now
There’s the girl that you were after
And all the time you can’t get past her
There’s the girl that you were after
Broken glass, complete disaster
There’s the girl that you were after
Can you say that you don’t
want her anymore

I believed you once
When you explained
That it wasn’t so tough
To forget her name

Cause there’s the girl
that you were after
Feel your heart beating faster now
There’s the girl that you were after
And all the time you can’t get past her
There’s the girl that you were after
Broken glass, complete disaster
There’s the girl that you were after
Can you say that you don’t
want her anymore

There’s the girl
There’s the girl
There’s the girl
There’s the girl

Credit: Image by Strange euphoria93, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

June’s Birthstone: These Pearls Were a 1840 Presidential Gift From the Imam of Muscat

Back in April 1840, the ship Sultanee arrived in New York Harbor loaded with exotic gifts for President Martin Van Buren. The valuable offerings included two magnificent Arabian horses, a case of rose oil, five demijohns of rose water, four Cashmere shawls, ivory, wild animal skins, Arabian dates, a bale of Persian rugs, a gold-mounted sword and a long string of 148 natural pearls sourced in the Persian Gulf.

The US had recently signed a Treaty of Friendship and Commerce with the Sultanate of Oman, and the Imam of Muscat's generosity was a way for him to curry favor with Van Buren. Oman had always been fiercely independent and feared the encroaching British Empire.

When the lavish gifts had arrived in the US, the Congress debated whether or not Van Buren could accept them at all. The Constitution generally forbids it, so the eventual compromise was that he could accept them — not as a private citizen, but in his official government role.

The cache of natural pearls was fashioned into a luxurious necklace and worn by Van Buren's 22-year-old daughter-in-law, Sarah Angelica Van Buren, who was had been the acting First Lady because the president's wife had passed away in 1819 and he never remarried.

When the incumbent lost his bid for a second term in late 1840, he deposited the pearl necklace at the National Institute Gallery in the US Patent Office.

According to the Smithsonian, about a year later, on December 20, 1841, a thief broke into the “treasure room” at the National Institute Gallery and stole, among other things, the necklace made from the pearls given by the Imam.

The necklace was recovered, but eventually the Patent Commissioner sealed all the valuables in a metal box and deposited it in the U.S. Treasury.

The items were finally transferred to the Smithsonian in the 1880s. Even then, a thief armed with a Bowie knife and chloroform made a failed attempt to overcome a Smithsonian watchman to steal the valuables.

Today, the necklace is part of the historic First Ladies Collection at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. With more than 1,000 objects, the collection documents the lives and contributions of America’s first ladies (and acting first ladies).

In her official portrait, Sarah Angelica Van Buren is wearing pearls around her neck and on her head. The pearls in the portrait don't appear to match the ones gifted by the Imam.

Natural pearls are among the rarest of all gems. In fact, experts believe the odds of opening a random oyster in the wild and finding a natural saltwater pearl is 1 in 100,000. What’s more, if someone was lucky enough to amass a small collection of natural pearls, there’s hardly a chance that they’d match in terms of size, shape, color and luster. This is why the round and near-round pearls gifted by the Imam more than 180 years ago are so special.

June’s official gemstone — the pearl — is unique among all gem types because it is the only one formed entirely within a living creature. Natural pearls occur when an irritant enters the oyster’s shell. To protect itself from the foreign body, the mollusk secretes layers of nacre, which, over time, become a lustrous pearl. To form a cultured pearl, a shell bead is surgically implanted into the mollusk to induce nacre production.

Credits: Natural pearls by NMNH Photo Services. Portrait of Angelica Van Buren by Henry Inman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

73-Carat 'Sienna Star' Earns Top Billing at Sotheby’s Upcoming Magnificent Jewels Sale

“The Sienna Star,” a 73.11-carat fancy vivid yellow diamond, is being promoted as the top lot at Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels sale in New York City on June 9.

Characterized by the Gemological Institute of America as “a standout item in the extraordinary world of gemstones,” the cut-cornered square, step-cut diamond boasts a VS2 clarity rating and the highest GIA color grading for a yellow diamond.

Sotheby's noted that "The Sienna Star" is one of the largest fancy vivid yellow diamonds ever to be auctioned and is likely to sell for $3 million or more.

The large yellow diamond is at the center of an 18-karat white gold ring intricately set with pavé diamonds and a flexible shank. The total weight of the accent diamonds is 4.45 carats.

Sotheby's commented that the ring and central diamond complement each other perfectly, creating a piece of truly wearable art.

The piece was designed by London-based master jeweler Glenn Shapiro, an East Londoner, who grew up in a working-class family and left school at 15 to become a goldsmith’s apprentice at English Artworks, Cartier’s workshop in London.

After designing for other houses for nearly 25 years, Spiro established his own house, G, in 2014, on Mayfair’s Bruton Street. According to Sotheby's, Shapiro quickly earned the reputation of being an artist whose designs are at once contemporary and timeless, and always set with exceptional stones.

Another highlight of the New York auction is a magnificent 15-inch necklace by Andrew Clunn. Set with 28 oval-shaped diamonds totaling more than 168 carats, the piece carries a high estimate of $3 million. The graduated diamonds range from 3.00 to 17.01 carats in weight, E to H in color and VS2 to Flawless in clarity.

Also scheduled to hit the auction block is a Bulgari-designed ring set with a 25.29-carat Kashmir sapphire flanked by tapered, bullet-shaped diamonds. The auction house is predicting that it will sell for about $3 million.

Sotheby's noted that all the pieces sold on June 9 will be worn during "The Roaring Twenties 2.0," a period that reflects a return to normalcy after more than a year of COVID-19 disruptions.

Credits: Images courtesy of Sotheby’s.