Music Friday Flashback: 'Wear My Ring Around Your Neck,' Sings Neil Sedaka

Welcome to Music Friday when we like to bring you nostalgic tunes with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today, Neil Sedaka, the man who topped the charts with timeless singalongs such as "Calendar Girl" (1960), "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen" (1961) and "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (1962), delivers still another teen-themed hit with "Let's Go Steady Again."

Released exactly 60 years ago when Sedaka was in his early 20s and reaching the height of his popularity, today's featured tune is about a young man who's having second thoughts after breaking up with his girlfriend.

It's been just a week since they said "goodbye," but the separation anxiety is getting the best of him. He wants to hit the restart button on the relationship and pleas with his ex to wear the jewelry symbolizing their love.

He sings, "Let's go steady again like we did before / Let's go steady again and be lovers once more / Wear my ring around your neck like you used to do / Don't you know it's wrong to break up / Come on baby let's kiss and make up."

Co-written by Sedaka and long-time collaborator, Howard Greenfield, "Let's Go Steady Again" peaked at #26 on the pop charts in 1963.

Rooted in the famed Brill Building in New York City, Sedaka and his writing partners have churned out more than 500 songs. Sedaka was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1983 and boasts a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The son of a taxi driver, Sedaka was born in Brooklyn in 1939. As a second grader, he showed such musical aptitude that his teacher recommended to his parents that he take piano lessons. Sedaka's mom landed a part-time job at a department store to earn enough money to buy her son a secondhand piano.

Her efforts paid off when the young Sedaka earned a music scholarship at the Juilliard School's Preparatory Division for Children. At the age of 13, a neighbor introduced Sedaka to Greenfield, an aspiring lyricist, who was three years his senior. Together, they would become one of the most prolific writing teams of all time.

Trivia: While attending Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, Sedaka dated singer-songwriter Carole King, who inspired his 1959 hit, "Oh! Carol."

Sedaka's career has spanned eight decades and he's still performing at the age of 83. He'll turn 84 in March. Please check out the audio track of Sedaka singing "Let's Go Steady Again." The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along…

"Let's Go Steady Again"
Written by Howard Greenfield and Neil Sedaka. Performed by Neil Sedaka.

Down down down rada to, let's go steady again
Down down down rada to, let's go steady again

Let's go steady again like we did before
Let's go steady again and be lovers once more
Wear my ring around your neck like you used to do
Don't you know it's wrong to break up
Come on baby let's kiss and make up

Let's go steady again like in the past
Let's show all of our friends that our love can last
I don't care who was wrong, come back here where you belong
Come on baby let's go steady again

Monday, we said goodbye
Tuesday, all I did was cry
Wednesday, I almost lost my mind

Thursday, I was feeling blue
Friday, was the same way, too
Never had a day sad as Saturday
Even Sunday was no fun day

Let's go steady again like we used to do
Say you're ready and then we can start anew
Seven days we didn't speak
It's been a long and lonely week
Come on baby, let's go steady again

Down, down, down, rada to, let's go steady again
Down, down, down, rada to, let's go steady again
Down, down, down, rada to, let's go steady again
Down, down, down, rada to, let's go steady again
Down, down, down, rada to, let's go steady again

Credit: Photo by Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

North America's Largest Alluvial Diamond Was Unearthed in West Virginia in 1928

In the tiny town of Peterstown at the southern tip of West Virginia, a weathered historical marker describes the remarkable find of William "Punch" Jones and his father Grover C. Jones Sr., who unearthed North America's largest alluvial diamond — a 34.46-carat silvery octahedron — while pitching horseshoes in April of 1928.

How the enormous diamond ended up in the Jones's sandy lot near Rich Creek remains one of the wildest gemological mysteries of all time. Diamonds are not native to West Virginia.

Known as the Jones Diamond, the Punch Jones Diamond, the Grover Jones Diamond and the Horseshoe Diamond, the gem measured 5/8-inch in diameter and displayed 12 diamond-shaped facets. The 11-year-old Punch and his dad believed, at first, that the shiny stone was clear quartz, which is common to the area. But the young man — the oldest of 17 children — liked the stone and decided to keep it in a wooden cigar box in the family's tool shed.

It remained there for the next 14 years, but then in 1942, Punch showed renewed interest in the shiny rock due to its crystalline shine and brought it to Virginia Polytechnic Institute (now Virginia Tech), where geology professor Roy J. Holden confirmed that the stone was actually a bluish-white alluvial diamond. Alluvial diamonds generally have softer, worn edges because they've been carried by rivers or streams from their primary source.

Dr. Holden told Punch that due to its "carry impact marks" and size, the stone had probably washed down the New River into Rich Creek from a source in Virginia, North Carolina or Tennessee.

Over time, other gem experts tossed around other ideas about how such an extraordinary diamond could have found its way into the Jones's horseshoe pit.

Perhaps the stone was consumed by a waterfowl in Brazil and then deposited over the Jones's property during a migration flight. Still others believe it's impossible to rule out human intervention. It could have been dropped on the property by earlier settlers or Native Americans.

The Joneses lent the stone to the Smithsonian, where it went on display at the Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC., and remained there from 1944 until 1964. Sadly, Punch, the oldest of 16 Jones sons (a record for consecutive male births) was killed in combat during WWII while serving as an Army Private First Class in 1945.

The gem was then returned to West Virginia, where it starred at the State Fair. Otherwise, it stayed out of the public eye — locked up in a safety deposit box at First Valley National Bank in Rich Creek, VA.

The Jones family finally sold the gem at a Sotheby's auction in 1984. The selling price of $74,250 is equivalent to $213,000 in today dollars. It was purchased by an agent representing a lawyer in an undisclosed Asian country.

Although the Punch Diamond hasn't been seen in many decades, the historical marker celebrating its discovery remains in Peterstown on U.S. Route 219 at the corner of Sycamore and Market Streets.

Credits: Street view captures via Google Maps. Example of an alluvial diamond courtesy of Lucapa.

Mississippi Opal on Fast Track to Becoming Magnolia State's Official Gemstone

It looks like the Mississippi Opal is on the fast track to becoming the Magnolia State's official gemstone. In early February, the Mississippi House voted 115-0 to recognize the unique gem as its newest state symbol.

If Bill 2138 passes the Senate, the speckled grey gem that displays opal-like flashes of orange and green will earn the state's special distinction alongside the official bird (mockingbird), flower (magnolia), fish (largemouth bass) and insect (honeybee).

“In Mississippi, we don’t have diamonds, we don’t have rubies… but we do have vast supplies of the opal,” Republican Rep. Becky Currie of Brookhaven told the Associated Press.

Geologist James Starnes is credited with discovering the Mississippi Opal less than 20 years ago when he and his team at the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) were mapping the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River in Claiborne County, near Vicksburg.

The geologists believe the Mississippi Opal was formed millions of years ago from volcanic ash.

The MDEQ joined forces with members of the North Mississippi Gem and Mineral Society and the Mississippi State Board of Registered Professional Geologists to endorse the Mississippi Opal as the state's official gemstone.

Starnes told NBC affiliate WDAM-TV in Hattiesburg that the Mississippi Opal's elevated status would "encourage folks to take interest in the state's geology."

What's more, Starnes explained that the same geological formations that allowed for the creation of Mississippi Opal in Claiborne County is also present throughout the state's pine belt.

He encouraged amateur gem hunters to seek them out.

"You’re not just looking for the sandstone," he said, "but you’re looking for the flashes of different colors from greens to reds. The color of this opal is different than any opal in the world. It is very electric in color."

The MDEQ would love to hear about any discoveries. Starnes encouraged amateur prospectors to contact the state's environmental quality department via its website at mdeq.ms.gov.

Specimens of Mississippi Opal are currently available for public viewing at both the Museum of the Mississippi Delta in Greenwood and the Oren Dunn City Museum in Tupelo.

Credits: Screen captures via wdam.com.