Music Friday: Coldplay Sings, 'Under This Pressure, We Are Diamonds Taking Shape'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you awesome songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin compares finding love and feeling alive again with the formation of diamonds deep within the Earth in a song called “Adventure of a Lifetime.”

Martin sings, “Everything you want’s a dream away / Under this pressure, under this weight / We are diamonds taking shape / We are diamonds taking shape.”

“Adventure of a Lifetime” is the lead single from Coldplay’s A Head Full of Dreams album, which was released in November of 2015. The album signaled uplifting change of tone for Martin, whose previous work was downbeat and broody following his 2014 breakup with actress Gwyneth Paltrow. They had been married for 10 years.

Writing for pop music website Idolator.com, Bianca Gracie and Robbie Daw called the colorful and energetic “Adventure of a Lifetime” the “best Coldplay single in seven years” and described the song as “incredibly vibrant in an almost childlike, blissful way that gives such an energetic rush.”

In an interview with SiriusXM radio, Martin explained that the song was inspired by a classic Guns N’ Roses’ rock riff.

“I’d been begging Jonny, our guitarist, for years to make a riff that I like as much as ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ by Guns N’ Roses,” said Martin. “Then he showed me that one, and I was like, ‘That’s it.’ So those elements all came together, and we just wanted to kind of embrace our love of joyful music and sort of let it free.”

“Adventure of a Lifetime” peaked at #1 on the U.S. Billboard Alternative Songs chart and #13 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. It was also an international hit, charting in 31 countries. The album earned the #2 position on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and a nomination for British Album of the Year. Coldplay performed “Adventure of a Lifetime” at the 2016 Super Bowl halftime show.

Formed by Martin in 1996, Coldplay has sold more than 100 million records worldwide and has earned numerous awards, including seven Grammys from 34 nominations.

Please check out the video of Coldplay’s live performance of “Adventure of a Lifetime.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

“Adventure of a Lifetime”
Written by Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen and Chris Martin. Performed by Coldplay.

Turn your magic on
Umi she’d say
Everything you want’s a dream away
And we are legends every day
That’s what she told me

Now I feel my heart beatin'
I feel my heart underneath my skin
Oh yeah, I feel my heart beatin'
'Cause you make me feel
Like I’m alive again

Alive again
Oh, you make me feel
Like I’m alive again

Said I can’t go on,
Not in this way
I’m a dream that died by light of day
Gonna hold up half the sky and say
Only I own me

And I feel my heart beatin'
I feel my heart underneath my skin
Oh, I can feel my heart beatin'
‘Cause you make me feel
Like I’m alive again

Alive again
Oh, you make me feel
Like I’m alive again

Turn your magic on,
Umi she’d say
Everything you want’s a dream away
Under this pressure, under this weight
We are diamonds taking shape
We are diamonds taking shape

If we’ve only got this life
This adventure, oh, then I
And if we’ve only got this life
You get me through

If we’ve only got this life
In this adventure, oh, then I
Want to share it with you
With you
With you
Yeah I do
Woohoo
Woohoo
Woohoo

Credit: Image by Yahoo! Blog, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Diamond-Rich Botswana Secures Larger Stake in New Deal With De Beers Group

De Beers Group and the Government of the Republic of Botswana have agreed to a new 10-year sales agreement that will see Africa's sixth-richest country gradually upping its share of the rough diamonds produced at its prolific Debswana-operated mines from 25% to 50%.

About the size of France, the landlocked republic in southern Africa produces more high-quality diamonds than any other country in the world, except for Russia. Botswana's diamond output was 23 million carats in 2021 and accounted for about 21% of global production.

The country is also the home of the Jwaneng mine, the world’s richest diamond mine by value. Jwaneng and three other diamond mines are operated by Debswana, a 50-50 partnership between De Beers Group and the Government of the Republic of Botswana.

According to the Debswana website, the Jwaneng kimberlite pipe was discovered in 1971 in the Naledi River Valley (Valley of the Star) under 30 meters of Kalahari sand. At the time, there were only about 60 people living in the region, which was called Jwana. The mine’s high-grade ore now contributes between 60% and 70% of Debswana’s revenue.

Last year, the De Beers Group obtained about 70% of its rough diamonds from Botswana.

With the expiration of the previous sales agreement looming on June 30, it was critical for the London-based De Beers Group to secure a deal that would extend the partnership for a new era. Late on Friday, right at the deadline, the two parties announced the new sales contract and mining licenses.

The new 10-year sales agreement will immediately see Botswana claiming 30% of Debswana's production, up from the current 25% and progressively increasing to 50% at the end of the 10-year period. Those diamonds will be sold via Okavango Diamond Company (ODC), which is wholly owned by the Botswana Government.

A new 25-year extension of Debswana mining licenses will secure that joint venture through 2054.

In addition to the sales and mining agreements, De Beers pledged to accelerate Botswana’s economic diversification through the creation of the Pula Diamonds for Development Fund, with an upfront investment by De Beers of $75 million and further contributions over the next 10 years that could total up to $750 million.

De Beers' goal is to create the potential for tens of thousands of new jobs in Botswana, both within an expanded Botswana-based diamond industry and emerging sectors, with a focus on supporting the growth of a knowledge-based economy. Currently, diamond mining accounts for one third of the country's gross domestic product.

“For De Beers it is a privilege to renew our half-century partnership with the people of Botswana," said Al Cook, CEO, De Beers Group. "It is a partnership that is highly regarded around the world for the enduring role it has played in creating economic development and growth. Our transformative agreement reflects the aspirations of the country, secures the future of our Debswana joint venture, and reaffirms De Beers’ leadership position for the long-term.

He continued, "The agreement represents our commitment to deliver investments in Botswana’s diamond production, Botswana’s diamond value chain, Botswana’s knowledge-based economy and, above all, the people of Botswana.”

Credit: Jwaneng Diamond Mine photo courtesy of Debswana.com.

Donation of Carmen Lúcia Ruby Is Testament to Dr. Peter Buck's Everlasting Love

A nuclear physicist by trade, the late Dr. Peter Buck is famous for making one of the most lucrative investments in US history — and for donating the 23-carat Carmen Lúcia Ruby to the Smithsonian as an everlasting tribute to his beloved wife. The ruby is the official birthstone for the month of July.

The investment part of the story begins in 1965 when a 17-year-old college student named Fred DeLuca sought advice from family friend Dr. Buck on how to pay his tuition at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. With an idea to open a submarine sandwich shop and an initial $1,000 investment from Dr. Buck, the two formed a business partnership that would ultimately change the landscape of the fast food industry.

DeLuca honored his benefactor by naming the shop “Pete’s Super Submarines.” That single store has since grown into the mammoth Subway chain, with 37,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries. Only McDonald's has more restaurants worldwide (about 40,000).

Dr. Buck was able to parlay his good fortune into acts of philanthropy, which leads us to the gemstone part of the story...

Since 2004, visitors to the National Gem and Mineral Collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, have marveled at the Carmen Lúcia Ruby. Prominently displayed in the showcase titled “Rubies and Sapphires,” the gem has the distinction of being the largest faceted ruby in the collection and one of the finest Burmese rubies ever known.

The Carmen Lúcia Ruby is named for Carmen Lúcia Buck, the beloved second wife of Dr. Buck, who provided the funds for the Smithsonian to purchase the stone after her passing in 2003. Carmen had been undergoing cancer treatments in 2002 and had seen photos of a magnificent ruby that she learned might be coming on the market after being in private hands for decades. Carmen had hoped to purchase the ring to celebrate her recovery.

Sadly, she would never wear it.

Instead, Dr. Buck would gift the Carmen Lúcia Ruby to the American people with the assurance that it would go on permanent display.

“So it seemed like a really appropriate thing to do, to give it to the nation so people could come and see it,” he told The New York Times in 2004. “She would have really liked that people could see it and know it was the Carmen Lúcia Ruby, and that it wasn’t locked away in a vault somewhere.”

At the time, National Gem and Mineral Collection curator Jeffrey Post called the Carmen Lúcia Ruby "the most important addition to the collection in the 20 years that I’ve been here."

Sourced in the fabled Mogok region of Burma (now Myanmar) in the 1930s, the Carmen Lúcia Ruby displays a richly saturated red color with undertones of pink and purple, a coveted hue known to gem experts as "pigeon blood red." The oval-cut stone is set in a platinum ring and flanked by two trillion-cut white diamonds weighing a combined 2.38 carats.

In January of 2023, The Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck Foundation (PCLB) announced that it would be receiving Dr. Buck's 50% stake in the Subway restaurant chain. Forbes estimated Buck's stake to be worth upwards of $5 billion.

Noted Carrie Schindele, Executive Director of PCLB, "This gift will allow the Foundation to greatly expand its philanthropic endeavors and impact many more lives, especially our work to create educational opportunities for all students, work Dr. Buck cared so deeply about."

Credit: Photo by Chip Clark/Smithsonian.