Music Friday: Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones Perform 1967's 'Ruby Tuesday'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you great songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Lead vocalist Mick Jagger was only 23 years old when The Rolling Stones released "Ruby Tuesday," a now-classic song that blasted to the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1967 and cemented its place in rock and roll history.

Ironically, what is arguably the most famous "ruby" song of all time has nothing to do with July's mesmerizing official gemstone. It's about a lost love.

The famous reprise goes like this… “Goodbye Ruby Tuesday / Who could hang a name on you? / When you change with every new day / Still I’m gonna miss you.”

Officially composed by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, the hauntingly beautiful ballad was inspired by Richards' emotionally devastating breakup with his girlfriend, Linda Keith, who left him for a poet. Richards actually wrote the song with an assist from then-band member Brian Jones, who wasn't credited on the record.

“That’s the first time I felt the deep cut,” Richards explained in his 2010 autobiography. “The thing about being a songwriter is… you can find consolation in writing about it, and pour it out… It becomes an experience, a feeling, or a conglomeration of experiences. Basically, Linda is ‘Ruby Tuesday.’”

The Rolling Stones released the original 45 of “Ruby Tuesday” in January of 1967. It had been intended as the B side of “Let’s Spend The Night Together,” another Stones hit, but radio deejays at the time were uncomfortable with the adult theme of the A side, and chose to flip it. Today, the 45 is referred to as a double-A-sided record. Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song #310 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The Rolling Stones are credited with more than 230 million record sales. They are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and were ranked fourth on Rolling Stone magazine’s 2010 list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time.”

Guitarist Richards turned 79 in December and Jagger will be celebrating his 80th birthday on July 26. The original band members are still active, along with bassist Ronnie Wood (76). Drummer Charlie Watts passed away in August of 2021 at the age of 80.

Please check out the classic video of The Rolling Stones performing “Ruby Tuesday.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

“Ruby Tuesday”
Written by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. Performed by The Rolling Stones.

She would never say where she came from
Yesterday don’t matter if it’s gone
While the sun is bright
Or in the darkest night
No one knows, she comes and goes

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I’m gonna miss you

Don’t question why she needs to be so free
She’ll tell you it’s the only way to be
She just can’t be chained
To a life where nothing's gained
And nothing's lost, at such a cost

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I’m gonna miss you

“There’s no time to lose,” I heard her say
Catch your dreams before they slip away
Dying all the time
Lose your dreams and you will lose your mind
Ain’t life unkind?

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I’m gonna miss you

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I’m gonna miss you

Credit: Rolling Stones photo by Jim Pietryga, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

MAD Presents Bejeweled Career-Spanning Look at 'Taylor Swift: Storyteller'

If you're planning a getaway to New York City this summer and are proud to call yourself a "Swiftie," consider stopping in at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), where an exhibition called "Taylor Swift: Storyteller" explores the artistic reinventions of the 12-time Grammy Award-winner told via her exquisitely crafted costumes, inventive scene design, imaginative iconography and blingy accessories.

Exhibition highlights include her sparkling ensemble from “Bejeweled” (2022), the cheerleader and ballerina costumes from “Shake It Off” (2014) and the red wedding dress and bellhop uniform from “I Bet You Think About Me (2021).

"Taylor Swift: Storyteller" includes concert attire by couture fashion houses, along with jewelry, props, ephemera and projections of music videos. Visitors will marvel at the artist's famous crystal-encrusted guitar, as well as the lyrics penned in Swift’s handwriting embellishing key walls in the space.

“At MAD, fashion and the decorative have long been valued as a critical visual language and no one speaks that language quite like Taylor Swift,” said Alexandra Schwartz, the Museum’s Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Craft, and Design. “Whether dressed down in a flannel shirt and untamed hair or literally dazzling her audiences in head-to-toe Swarovski crystals, Taylor gives greater meaning to the palettes, textures and depths of feeling expressed in her songwriting.”

The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of public programs and fun events inspired by the creativity and passion of Swift’s ardent fan base — from video and film screenings to karaoke sing-alongs. The exhibition runs through September 4, 2023, and tickets cost $25.

Credits: "Bejeweled" video still: courtesy of TAS Rights Management. Jewelry photo by Bruce M. White; courtesy the Museum of Arts and Design.

Breaking Tradition: Elizabeth Banks Marks 20th Anniv. With 'Peacock' Sapphire

Actress and producer Elizabeth Banks commemorated her 20th wedding anniversary on Wednesday with an Instagram Story showing a closeup of her newest bling — a greenish-blue sapphire ring.

Traditionally, her 20th anniversary gemstone should have been an emerald, but Banks opted for a "peacock" sapphire, which displays a unique play of blues and greens, similar to that of a peacock feather.

She overlayed the photo with a caption that read: “The 20th anniversary ring.” She also tagged her soulmate and business partner, Max Handelman, and included the hashtag peacocksapphire. The ring features the large oval-cut sapphire adorned by a halo of small white diamonds set upon a matching diamond-encrusted band.

In separate posts on her Instagram timeline, Banks shared with her 3.8 million followers a series of black-and-white photos from her wedding day in 2003 juxtaposed with a more recent pic of the couple.

"Time flies when you’re making an amazing life together," Banks wrote. "20 years. Proudest achievement. Feels like yesterday. Love to all who celebrated with us. Couldn’t do it without you."

The peacock sapphire is an excellent choice for everyday wear because it has a high resistance to scratching. Sapphires rate a 9 out of 10 on the Mohs hardness scale. Only diamonds rate higher.

Peacock sapphires owe their color to the presence of iron within the chemical composition of the stone. Their value is based on the size of the polished gem, the intensity of its color, the clarity of the stone and whether or not it has been heat treated.

Peacock sapphires are sourced in many locations, including India, Sri Lanka and the state of Montana.

Although the couple has been officially married for 20 years, their love story goes back 30 years, when they fell in love at the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League school in Philadelphia. She was 19 and he was 20 at the time.

The couple owns Brownstone Productions, which is best known for producing all three Pitch Perfect movies, as well as the 2019 version of Charlie’s Angels. They also share two children, Felix, 12, and Magnus Mitchell, 10.

Credits: Photos via Instagram/elizabethbanks.