Music Friday: Etta James Wants Diamonds, Not Flowers, in 1961’s ‘Tough Mary’

Welcome to Music Friday when we often bring you vintage songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today, the spotlight shines on the legendary Etta James and her 1961 satirical romp, “Tough Mary.”

In the song, James steps into the role of Mary, a sassy and pretty girl who attracts more than her share of suitors. Boys come from miles around bearing gifts, but Mary makes it clear that it's going to take diamonds, not flowers, to get her attention.

James belts, “Don’t bring me flowers / Don’t bring me the sea / Just bring me diamonds, that’ll suit me fine / And I’ll love you forever, and you’ll be mine.”

“Tough Mary” is the fifth track on James’ At Last! album, a release that spawned four hits. One of those was the title song, which was to become the R&B legend’s signature tune. In 2012, Rolling Stone magazine ranked At Last! #119 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Born to a teen mother in 1938, Jamesetta Hawkins never knew her father and was raised primarily by her grandparents and foster families. She received her first professional vocal training at the age of five and soon became a popular singing attraction at the St. Paul Baptist Church in South Central Los Angeles.

She formed the doo-wop singing group — the Creolettes — with her friends in the early 1950s and scored her first hit single as a 15-year-old. One year later, James started dating B.B. King (“The King of the Blues”) and believed that King’s 1960 blockbuster hit “Sweet 16” was about her.

James went on to become a headliner in the early 1960s with a string of chart-toppers, including “The Wallflower,” “At Last,” “Tell Mama,” “Something’s Got a Hold on Me,” “Stormy Weather” and “I’d Rather Go Blind.”

Her unmistakable voice, unique style and ability to bridge so many musical genres — such as blues, R&B, soul, rock and roll, jazz and gospel — earned James coveted spots in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Blues Hall of Fame and the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Often referred to as the “The Matriarch of R&B,” James passed away in 2012, just five days shy of her 74th birthday.

We hope you enjoy the audio track of James performing “Tough Mary.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

“Tough Mary”
Written by Lorenzo Manley. Performed by Etta James.

Tough Mary, Tough Mary (Yeah, that’s me)
Tough Mary is tough

The boys would come from miles around
With presents every day
But when they’d call on Mary
This is what she’d say:

Don’t bring me posies, when it’s shoes I need
(Tough Mary, Tough Mary, Tough Mary, Tough Mary)
Don’t bring me flowers, don’t bring me the sea
(Tough Mary, Tough Mary, Tough Mary is tough)
Just bring me diamonds, that’ll suit me fine
(Tough Mary, Tough Mary, Tough Mary, Tough Mary)
And I’ll love you forever, and you’ll be mine
(Tough Mary, Tough Mary, Tough Mary is tough!)

Well, Mary, she’s a very pretty girl
I guess she was born that way
But whenever they would tell her that
This is what she’d say:

Don’t bring me posies, when it’s shoes I need
(Tough Mary, Tough Mary, Tough Mary, Tough Mary)
Don’t bring me flowers, don’t bring me the sea
(Tough Mary, Tough Mary, Tough Mary is tough)
Come on and bring me some diamonds, that’ll suit me fine
(Tough Mary, Tough Mary, Tough Mary, Tough Mary)
And I’ll love you forever, and you’ll be mine
(Tough Mary, Tough Mary, Tough Mary is tough!)

Tough Mary
Tough Mary
Tough Mary

Don’t bring me no posies, when it’s shoes I need
(Tough Mary, Tough Mary, Tough Mary, Tough Mary)
Don’t bring me flowers, don’t bring me the sea
(Tough Mary, Tough Mary, Tough Mary is tough)
Come on and bring me some diamonds, that’ll suit me fine
(Tough Mary, Tough Mary, Tough Mary, Tough Mary)
And I’ll love you forever, and you’ll be mine
(Tough Mary, Tough Mary, Tough Mary is tough!)

Oh, I’m tough
(Tough Mary, Tough Mary, Tough Mary, Tough Mary)
Yeah, yeah I’m tough

Credit: Photo by John K. Addis, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Amazon's Virtual Assistant Alexa Says Painite Is the Rarest Gem Mineral Ever

Ask Amazon's Alexa to name the rarest gem mineral ever and the know-it-all virtual assistant is likely to answer, "Painite."

Unearthed in Myanmar by British mineralogist and gem dealer Arthur C.D. Pain in the 1950s, the rare borate mineral was originally misidentified as a ruby and then reclassified as a new gem species — named painite, to honor its discoverer — in 1957. Only two more painite crystals would surface over the next 44 years.

After 2001, new discoveries from the areas surrounding the Myanmar city of Mogok resulted in an influx of more than 1,000 orange-red and brownish-red crystals. This one place on Earth remains the only source of painite.

In 2005, the Guinness Book of World Records named painite as the world's rarest gem mineral. Painite has also been called the "Holy Grail" of rare gemstones.

Chemically, painite contains calcium, zirconium, boron, aluminum and oxygen, along with trace amounts of chromium and vanadium, which are responsible for painite's topaz-like colorations. The gem is strongly pleochroic, which means that different hues appear when the stone is viewed from various angles.

Painite's extreme rarity is attributed to the unlikely convergence of zirconium and boron in nature.

Painite boasts great brilliance, attractive colors and an impressive hardness of 8 on the Mohs scale (on par with topaz or spinel). On the other hand, painite is somewhat compromised by its tendency to display natural feather-like inclusions and fractures, rendering it difficult to facet. To minimize loss and damage, cutters generally favor small sizes and shallow faceting.

The best painite crystals are said to fetch up to $60,000 per carat.

Painite is often mistaken for ruby, spinel, almandine, garnet and tourmaline. On the flip side, what was thought to be a brown tourmaline in the Natural History Museum in London turned out to be a painite.

Credits: Images by Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Weighing 228 Carats, 'The Rock' Could Fetch Up to $30MM at Christie's Geneva

Billed as the largest white diamond ever to appear for sale at auction, "The Rock" will be the top lot at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale in Geneva on May 11. The 228.31-carat, pear-shaped gem — which was unveiled to the press at Christie's Dubai on Friday — carries a pre-auction estimate of $20 million to $30 million.

“The Rock will join the very best of legendary gemstones which have passed through Christie’s global salerooms since 1766," commented Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s International Head of Jewelry. "The market for diamonds is particularly vibrant and we are confident that this sensational gemstone will capture the attention of collectors across the globe this spring season.”

This exceptionally rare gemstone was mined and polished in South Africa more than two decades ago. About the size of an egg, the G-color, VS1-clarity diamond has passed through the hands of only three previous owners, Kadakia told The Robb Report. He also noted that Christie’s has known about The Rock for a long time because the auction house was involved with the first transaction of the stone, which had been sold privately.

The Rock is accompanied by a letter from the Gemological Institute of America stating that it is the largest existing D-to-Z color, pear-shaped diamond ever graded by the laboratory.

The previous auction record holder for the largest white diamond was a 163.41-carat gem, which sold at Christie’s Geneva in November 2017 for $33.7 million. That emerald-cut, D-flawless stunner was set in an emerald-and-diamond necklace designed by de Grisogono.

The extraordinary diamond, which was cut from a 404.20-carat Angola-sourced rough named “4 de Fevereiro,” had been dubbed “the most beautiful diamond in the world.” The necklace attained celebrity status as it toured Hong Kong, London, Dubai and New York before returning to Geneva for the high-profile sale at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues.

The asymmetrical necklace features cascading pear-shaped emeralds on the left side and cool, white emerald-cut diamonds down the right. The company chose to use emeralds in the design because the green color symbolizes good luck.

The Rock can be seen at Christie’s Dubai through March 29. The tour will make stops in Taipei and New York City, before settling in at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues Geneva from May 6 to May 11.

Kadakia told AFP why Dubai was chosen as the first stop of the tour.

“The Middle East has always had such a great appreciation for important jewels and gemstones,” he said. “We thought it would be nice for us to launch the diamond in an area where there are so many great collectors for important gems of this nature.”

Credits: Images courtesy of Christie's.