Music Friday: Kenny Rogers Sings About a Cowboy With a Cheating Heart

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you fun songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today, a cowboy learns a valuable life lesson in Kenny Rogers’ 1991 hit, “If You Want to Find Love.”

Co-written by Rogers, Skip Ewing and Max D. Barnes, the song uses multiple jewelry and precious metal references to tell the story of two strangers who meet in a bar. The man has a cheating heart, but the woman sets him straight.

She counters the cowboy’s not-so-subtle advances with the following advice: “If you wanna find gold / Go looking in the mountains / If you wanna find silver / Go digging in stones / If you wanna find heaven / Go reading in the Bible / If you wanna find love / Go looking at home.”

Later in the song, the woman turns her attention to the cowboy’s wedding band.

Rogers sings, “She touched the gold ring on his finger / And held it to the jukebox light / And she said, ‘Stranger, think what you’re losing / If you leave here with me tonight.'”

“If You Want to Find Love” was released as the first single from Back Home Again, the county music superstar’s 24th studio album. The single reached #11 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.

Born in Houston in 1938, Kenneth Ray “Kenny” Rogers was one of the most successful country artists of all time. He charted more than 120 singles and topped the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks. In all, he sold 100+ million records worldwide and, amazingly, charted a record in seven different decades.

In 2015, he announced that he would be retiring from show business after a final tour, which he titled “The Gambler’s Last Deal.” Shows were scheduled through 2018, but he was forced to cut the tour short in April of that year because of health issues. He passed away in 2020 at the age of 81.

Please check out the audio track of Rogers performing “If You Want To Find Love.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

“If You Want To Find Love”
Written by Skip Ewing, Max D. Barnes and Kenny Rogers. Performed by Kenny Rogers.

He was sitting on a bar stool
A picture from a cheating song
She’d been standing by the jukebox
Dropping quarters all night long.

He said, "Tell me: are you lonely?
Is there someplace we can go?
She said, "Cowboy, you know I’m lonely
But there’s something you should know"

If you wanna find gold
Go looking in the mountains
If you wanna find silver
Go digging in the stones
If you wanna find heaven
Go reading in the Bible
If you wanna find love
Go looking at home.

She touched the gold ring on his finger
And held it to the jukebox light
And she said, "Stranger, think what you’re losing
If you leave here with me tonight."

So he pulled her body closer
She felt feelings she’d never known
And he said, "Thank you, for the lesson
And if you need me I’ll be at home."

If you wanna find gold
Go looking in the mountains
If you wanna find silver
Go digging in the stones
If you wanna find heaven
Go reading in the Bible
If you wanna find love
Go looking at home.

If you wanna find gold
Go looking in the mountains
If you wanna find silver
Go digging in stones
If you wanna find heaven
Go reading in the Bible
If you wanna find love
Go looking at home.

If you wanna find love, love, love
Go looking at home

Credit: Photo courtesy of Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries. UH Digital Library.

'Eutierria' Crushes Guinness World Record for Most Diamonds Set on a Ring

Set with 50,907 diamonds, "Eutierria" absolutely crushed the Guinness World Record for the most diamonds set in a single ring. Created by H.K. Designs and Hari Krishna Exports, the spectacular sunflower-inspired piece more than doubled the diamond count of the previous record holder.

The ring comprises eight diamond-encrusted parts, including four layers of petals, the shank, two diamond discs, and a bedazzled butterfly. The ring is designed in 18-karat gold, has a diamond total weight of 130.19 carats and is valued at $785,645. The gold alone weighs 460 grams (just over 1 pound).

The name "Eutierria" is associated with a positive feeling of oneness with the Earth. Appropriately, the ring was made with an eye toward sustainability — utilizing recycled materials, including gold and diamonds repurposed from customer returns. What's more, the company has pledged to plant one tree for each of the diamonds set in the ring.

In pursuing this ambitious project, the company's goal was to create a rare piece of art that would be in a class all its own, while showcasing the team's expertise in designing and crafting exquisite jewelry. The sunflower motif was chosen because of its beautiful, sunny charm and glow.

The manufacturer reported that it took four months to complete the CAD (computer aided design) and another nine months to fabricate the ring.

“I am deeply grateful for the recognition from Guinness World Records," noted Ghanshyam Dholakia, founder and managing director of Mumbai-based Hari Krishna Exports. "It is a testament to our team’s hard work and dedication… We are proud to showcase our commitment to sustainability and artistic excellence through the 'Eutierria Ring,' and we hope to continue pushing the boundaries of innovation in the jewelry industry.”

"Eutierria" easily unseated the previous Guinness record holder, “The Touch of Ami,” which featured 24,679 diamonds and had been in the top position since July of 2022. Inspired by the graceful, undulating layers of the pink oyster mushroom, the design by SWA Diamonds made headlines when it nearly doubled the number of natural diamonds employed by the previous record holder.

“Most Diamonds Set in One Ring” is a frequently challenged category at Guinness World Records. There have been six title holders since July of 2018. Just when you think you can’t possibly fit any more diamonds onto a single ring, these designers have continued to push the boundaries…

Ranked 3rd - “The Marigold – The Ring of Prosperity” (December 2020). Indian jeweler Harshit Bansal turned heads with an eight-layer floral ring set with 12,638 diamonds.

Ranked 4th – “The Divine – 7801 Brahma Vajra Kamalam” (October 2020). India-based jeweler Kotti Srikanth designed a 7,801-diamond ring inspired by the rare Brahma Kamalam flower, which is native to the Himalayas.

Ranked 5th – “Lotus Temple Ring” (August 2019). Lakshikaa Jewels of Mumbai fabricated the 7,777-diamond “Lotus Temple Ring,” which took its inspiration from the famous Lotus Temple in Delhi.

Ranked 6th – “Lotus Ring” (July 2018). Indian jewelers Vishal and Khushbu Agarwal set 6,690 diamonds into an 18-karat rose gold ring that resembles a lotus flower.

Credit: Photo courtesy of H.K. Designs/Hari Krishna Exports.

116-Carat Tsavorite Goes on Public View at Natural History Museum in DC

On Thursday, April 20, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, will unveil the "Lion of Merelani," a superb 116.76-carat electric green tsavorite garnet.

Unearthed in 2017 by Bridges Tsavorite mining company near Merelani, a gem-rich region straddling the border of Kenya and Tanzania, the gem weighed more than 283 carats in its rough form.

The following year, the mining company recruited world-renowned gem cutter Victor Tuzlukov to shape the rough stone into the 177-facet Lion of Merelani, the world’s largest cushion-cut tsavorite.

“This tsavorite is truly one of the most important colored gemstones to have been mined this decade,” said mineralogist Jeffrey Post, the Smithsonian’s curator-in-charge of gems and minerals. “A gem like this is one of Earth’s natural treasures and is an exciting addition to the National Gem Collection and to our public exhibition.”

Post and the rest of the Smithsonian’s gem-collection team examined the stone up close at the 2020 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show and were reportedly astonished by its unprecedented size and quality.

According to Post, faceted tsavorites weighing more than 10 carats are rare. The Lion of Merelani is more than 100 carats heavier than the current largest tsavorite in the National Gem Collection.

According to the Smithsonian, the Lion of Merelani is the largest precision-cut tsavorite in the world. It's also the largest tsavorite gem ever cut in the United States.

The impressive tsavorite was gifted to the National Gem Collection from Somewhere in the Rainbow, a privately owned gem and jewelry collection. Somewhere in the Rainbow works with gemologists, gallery owners, museums and jewelry designers to preserve the rarity and beauty of the finest colored gems in the world.

It is also a gift from Bruce Bridges, the CEO of the Bridges Tsavorite mining company. The Lion of Merelani honors Bruce's father, the late Campbell Bridges, the famed geologist credited with discovering tsavorite in Tanzania in 1967.

“We are confident that this great tsavorite will quickly become a visitor favorite, for its beauty and its well-documented story,” Post said. “It will be the iconic garnet in the National Gem Collection, the one that all other tsavorites will be compared to in the future.”

As of Thursday, the Lion of Merelani will settle into its permanent residence at the museum's Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals.

Credit: Photo by Jeff Scovil, courtesy of Bridges Tsavorite.