Music Friday: Neil Diamond Sings, ‘Gold Don’t Rust, Love Don’t Lie’ in His Country Classic

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you awesome songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, the legendary Neil Diamond sings about how “gold don’t rust” and “love don’t lie” in a country classic from his 1996 Tennessee Moon album.

Diamond, who was a pre-med student at New York University and can certainly find his way around a periodic table, took an interesting fact about a chemical property of gold and spun it into a love song.

Besides its rarity, value and radiance, gold in its purest form is an element that will never oxidize or rust. That’s why gold is considered a "noble precious metal" and has been used for jewelry and coinage for millennia.

In “Gold Don’t Rust,” Diamond assures his lover that she doesn’t have to worry every time he goes away. His sweet feelings for her will continue to shine.

He offers her a 24-karat commitment in the chorus, which goes like this: “Gold don’t rust / Love don’t lie / I’ll be true ’til the day that I die. / Trust in me, you will find / Baby, you’re the gold in this heart of mine / And that gold will shine for a long, long time.”

“Gold Don’t Rust,” which Diamond co-wrote with Gary Burr and Bob DiPiero, was the seventh track of Diamond’s 23rd studio album, Tennessee Moon. The album was certified gold (500,000 units sold) by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Over the course of his stellar 60-year career as a singer-songwriter-musician, Diamond has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Diamond was a member of Erasmus Hall High School’s Chorus and Choral Club along with close friend Barbra Streisand. Diamond was inspired to write music after meeting folk singer Pete Seeger, who visited a summer camp he was attending.

“And the next thing, I got a guitar when we got back to Brooklyn, started to take lessons and almost immediately began to write songs,” he told Rolling Stone magazine.

Just 10 credits short of an undergraduate degree from New York University, Diamond dropped out of college to take a 16-week assignment writing songs for Sunbeam Music Publishing. The job paid $50 per week. Later in his career, he would joke, “If this darn songwriting thing hadn’t come up, I would have been a doctor now.”

The 81-year-old Diamond shook the music world four years ago with the news that he'd been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and wouldn't be touring anymore. Instead, he's been collaborating on a Broadway-bound musical based on his life story and extensive catalog of timeless hits. "A Beautiful Noise, the Neil Diamond Musical" premiered on Tuesday at Boston's Emerson Colonial Theatre.

Diamond was a surprise guest on opening night and earned a standing ovation as he took his seat in the audience. The show began a six-week engagement in Boston before it opens this fall in The Big Apple at the Broadhurst Theatre.

Please check out the audio track of Diamond’s “Gold Don’t Rust.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

“Gold Don’t Rust”
Written by Gary Burr, Bob DiPiero and Neil Diamond. Performed by Neil Diamond.

I know you worry every time I go away
You wonder will these sweet, sweet feelings shine or fade
Well, that’s a question you don’t have to ask
What heaven makes, it always makes to last

Gold don’t rust
Love don’t lie
I’ll be true ’til the day that I die
Trust in me, you will find
Baby, you’re the gold in this heart of mine
And that gold will shine for a long, long time.

I wish that I could give you
What you need from me.
But what good is a promise or a guarantee?
Love is still a simple act of faith
And a faithful heart is always worth the wait

Gold don’t rust
Love don’t lie
I’ll be true ’til the day that I die
Trust in me, you will find
Baby, you’re the gold in this heart of mine,
And that gold will shine for a long, long time

Love is still a simple act of faith
And a faithful heart is always worth the wait

Gold don’t rust
Love don’t lie
I’ll be true ’til the day that I die
Trust in me, you will find
Baby, you’re the gold in this heart of mine
And that gold will shine for a long, long time

Baby you’re the gold in this heart of mine
And that gold will shine
For a long, long, long time
Yeah

Credit: Image by Irisgerh at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Finals MVP Steph Curry Breaks Out His Championship Jewelry for Warriors' Parade

Flaunting a gold chain strung with three NBA championship rings, Finals MVP Steph Curry and the rest of the Golden State Warriors paraded up Market Street in San Francisco on Monday afternoon to celebrate their six-game victory over the Boston Celtics and their fourth Larry O'Brien Trophy in eight years.

When questioned about his jewelry during NBC's coverage of the parade, Curry said, "I had to bring the jewelry back out. I don't look at it during the year… But, every once in a while you've got to remind yourself. You got four!"

Curry turned to his Instagram Story to show off his three previous championship rings and an armful of trophies. The 2021-2022 championship ring will be unveiled prior to the team's home opener in late October.

In the world of professional sports, championship rings tend to get more elaborate as teams become dynasties. This was seen with the NFL's six-time Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots and now with the NBA's Golden State Warriors (7th title overall).

To mark their 2017-18 championship run, the Warriors employed designer Jason Arasheben, aka Jason of Beverly Hills, who created a technically challenging championship ring composed of nearly 20 pieces.

The ring's most compelling feature was a reversible top, the first-of-its-kind for a championship ring. The head of the ring, which could be completely detached from its band, had a centerpiece that could be flipped to show blue sapphires on one side or white diamonds on the other. Blue and white are two the Warriors’ primary colors with golden yellow being the third. Twisting off the top of the ring revealed the slogan ‘Strength in Numbers’ etched in gold.

We expect the 2021-2022 edition will be even more impressive.

Curry had a hunch that this year's team could make it all the way to the championship.

"It's all about the journey," he said. "I knew last year, the way that we finished the season, we could carry that momentum into this year. I'd be lying if I said I knew for a fact that we would be NBA champions. [We had to] make that the goal and stay in the present."

After a stunning 18-2 start to the season, the team was on its way.

The Warriors players began the parade waving to fans from an open-top tour bus. But as the parade progressed, many players jumped down from the bus to meet and greet their passionate and proud Dub Nation fans one-on-one.

Credits: Steph Curry images via Instagram / stephencurry30. Ring image via Instagram/Jason of Beverly Hills.

Diamond-Shaped Cafe Floats Like a Pendant 280 Meters Above Dashbashi Canyon

In an effort to draw hundreds of thousands of adventure tourists each year to its stunning Tsalka Nature Reserve, the country of Georgia has just unveiled a first-of-its-kind "Diamond Bridge" featuring a multi-level diamond-shaped cafe that seems to float like a pendant 280 meters above the Dashbashi Canyon.

The cafe is believed to be the largest and tallest hanging structure in the world, a notion that may soon be affirmed by the authorities at Guinness World Records. The diamond-shaped cafe weighs 9 tons and can accommodate 2,000 tourists.

Designed and constructed by the Georgian-Israeli Kass investment group at a total cost of $38.7 million, the bridge and related amenities took three years to come to fruition.

Tomer Mor Yosef, Vice President of Kass Group, told The Jerusalem Post that the inspiration for the diamond cafe came from how the canyon itself is shaped like a diamond, spanning some 800 meters at the top while only 4 meters at the bottom. The canyon has been carved over time by the Ktsia River.

The bridge spans 240 meters and is made of glass and steel. Tourists can literally see the gorge beneath their feet as they traverse the bridge. The developers also created a bicycle zip line that runs parallel to the bridge and a 40-meter cliff swing.

The complex also includes hiking trails to the canyon, caves and waterfalls, as well as cottages, a hotel, camping site and a visitor's center.

A two-hour drive from Georgia's capital of Tbilisi, the Diamond Bridge was opened for visitors last Wednesday. The fee to access the bridge is 29 Georgian Lari ($9.91) for Georgian citizens over 12 years old and 49 GEL ($16.75) for foreigners. Discounts are available for younger visitors and children under 3 can cross for free.

Credit: Photo courtesy of Georgian Government Administration.