Music Friday: Cher Is Wearing Sonny's Ring in 1965's #1 Hit, 'I Got You Babe'

Welcome to Music Friday when we often bring you classic songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today we flash back to the summer of 1965 — a time of hippies, bell bottoms, flower power and a chart-topping duo named Sonny & Cher singing “I Got You Babe.”

In this love song about a young couple willing to challenge societal norms, Cher famously assures Sonny, “So let them say your hair’s too long / ‘Cause I don’t care, with you I can’t go wrong.” In the jewelry reference, Sonny serenades, “I got flowers in the spring. I got you to wear my ring.”

Written by Sonny Bono, “I Got You Babe” was the duo’s biggest single and signature song. It ascended to #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and charted in 18 countries, including Singapore, Switzerland and Zimbabwe.

Sonny revealed in a 1966 interview that the song was inspired by first-hand experiences.

“I know what it is like to be kicked around because you dress differently,” Sonny told Musical Express. “I know what it is like to see the girl you love hurt because a hotel refuses you admission because of your dress. I know what it is like to have that one person stand by you. There are a lot of other people who have experienced these things and I’m trying to put our feelings into words for everyone.”

Despite being named one of the greatest duets of all times by both Billboard and Rolling Stone magazines, “I Got You Babe” was nearly thrown on the scrap heap.

Apparently, Ahmet Ertegun, the head of Atco Records, didn’t really care for the song, and was planning to relegate it to the “B” side of Sonny & Cher’s single, “It’s Gonna Rain.”

Even Cher admitted that she was hardly enthusiastic when she sang it for the first time. Sonny agreed to change the key in the bridge to suit Cher’s range and then she loved it.

Sonny was sure they had a hit, but Ertegun was still not convinced. Sonny pitched the song to the program director of Los Angeles radio station KHJ. He made a deal that allowed the station to have the song exclusively if they played it once an hour.

The station’s listeners couldn’t get enough of “I Got You Babe” and Ertegun finally agreed to publish it as the “A” side.

“I Got You Babe” had a key role in the 1993 movie, Groundhog Day, as Bill Murray, playing an arrogant TV weatherman, finds himself reliving February 2 in a perpetual time loop. Every morning at exactly six o’clock Murray wakes to the clock-radio playing the Sonny & Cher ditty.

Check out the video of Sonny & Cher performing “I Got You Babe.” The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along…

“I Got You Babe”
Written by Sonny Bono. Performed by Sonny & Cher.

Cher: They say we’re young and we don’t know
We won’t find out until we grow
Sonny: Well I don’t know if all that’s true
‘Cause you got me, and baby I got you

Sonny: Babe
BOTH: I got you babe, I got you babe

Cher: They say our love won’t pay the rent
Before it’s earned, our money’s all been spent
Sonny: I guess that’s so, we don’t have a pot
But at least I’m sure of all the things we got

Sonny: Babe
BOTH: I got you babe, I got you babe

Sonny: I got flowers in the spring, I got you to wear my ring
Cher: And when I’m sad, you’re a clown
And if I get scared, you’re always around
Cher: So let them say your hair’s too long
‘Cause I don’t care, with you I can’t go wrong
Sonny: Then put your little hand in mine
There ain’t no hill or mountain we can’t climb

Sonny: Babe
BOTH: I got you babe I got you babe

Sonny: I got you to hold my hand
Cher: I got you to understand
Sonny: I got you to walk with me
Cher: I got you to talk with me
Sonny: I got you to kiss goodnight
Cher: I got you to hold me tight
Sonny: I got you, I won’t let go
Cher: I got you to love me so

BOTH: I got you babe
I got you babe
I got you babe
I got you babe
I got you babe

Credit: Image by CBS Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

'Good Trouble' Star Cierra Ramirez Is Rockin' a Rectangular Cushion-Cut Diamond

Good Trouble star Cierra Ramirez's 2.9 million Instagram followers got an unexpected thrill Sunday when the self-described "luckiest girl in the world" shared pics of her surprise engagement to musician OTHRSYDE. The 28-year-old showed off her new rectangular cushion-cut diamond engagement ring in two of the six carousel shots.

OTHRSYDE, whose actual name is Jonathan Zallez, proposed on bended knee in a lush backyard decorated with white candles and bouquets of white roses. A string ensemble played in the background as Ramirez covered her mouth in surprise. More than 30 of their closest friends and family were on hand to share in the special moment.

Ramirez's cushion-cut diamond appears to be prong-set on a dainty diamond-accented yellow gold band.

In the couple's joint Instagram post, the actress wrote, "Spoiler alert: I said YES! I prayed for a love like yours @othrsyde. I also couldn’t have dreamt up a better proposal if I tried… in my hometown with everyone I love! You are the most thoughtful person & I can’t wait to annoy you for the rest of my life hehehe I’m the luckiest girl in the world."

She punctuated her post with an Engagement Ring emoji and two White Heart emojis.

She also acknowledged the friends who helped organize the celebration and those who flew to Houston to surprise her.

"…You made one of the best days of my life THAT much more memorable," she wrote.

She concluded the post with the phrase, "Wow. Pinch meeeee" followed by a Six Horizontal Line emoji (symbolizing love, warmth, caring and affection), and a final White Heart emoji.

Ramirez is best known for her breakout performance as Mariana Adams Foster in the Freeform television series The Fosters, and her spin-off series, Good Trouble. OTHRSYDE, 27, is a musician, Instagram model and influencer.

Priscilla Quintana, who has the recurring role of Isabella on Good Trouble, commented on Instagram, "That ring is EVERYTHING… Congrats you both."

Ramirez and OTHRSYDE have been a couple since August 2019, most recently celebrating their four-year anniversary together with a romantic trip to Spain and France.

Credits: Images via Instagram / cierraramirez.

98-Carat Bismarck Sapphire Was a Honeymoon Gift From Roaring Twenties Tycoon

In 1926, American tycoon Harrison Williams married Mona Bush, a divorcée 24 years his junior. Aboard his 250-foot yacht, the Warrior, the couple embarked on a year-long, around-the-world honeymoon, and during a stopover in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), the 53-year-old public utilities mogul picked up a beautiful cornflower blue sapphire for his new bride.

That 98.57-carat cushion-cut gem, which is now known as the Bismarck Sapphire, is one of the world’s finest examples of September’s official birthstone. Visitors to the Gem Gallery at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, will see the Bismarck Sapphire Necklace prominently displayed alongside two other famous sapphire pieces, the Hall Sapphire and Diamond Necklace and the Logan Sapphire.

Originally set horizontally in a necklace designed by Cartier in 1927, the Bismarck Sapphire was rotated into a vertical position when Mona had the necklace updated in 1959. The necklace on display in Washington, D.C., is accented with eight square-cut blue sapphires and 312 baguette and round brilliant-cut diamonds.

Gem experts believe that the Bismarck Sapphire was originally much larger than 98.57 carats and that it was likely recut by Cartier to attain optimum clarity and brilliance after returning to the states from Sri Lanka. Traditionally, Sri Lankan cutters favored carat weight over ideal proportions.

When Williams set off on his year-long honeymoon he was considered one of the richest men in America. His fortune was estimated at $680 million (equivalent to about $11.2 billion today).

The stock market crash of 1929 took a heavy toll on their fortune, but still, the Williamses maintained their ritzy lifestyle and, by 1933, Mona had earned the distinction of becoming the first American voted the “Best Dressed Woman in the World.”

Harrison Williams died in 1953, and two years later Mona would marry the German Count Eduard von Bismarck. At this point, the American socialite became known as Countess Mona von Bismarck. In 1967, at the age of 70, the Countess donated her beloved necklace to the Smithsonian. Mona died in 1983 at the age of 86.

Historically, the finest and most vibrant gem-quality sapphires have come from Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Burma) and the Kashmir region of India. According to the Smithsonian, sapphires from Sri Lanka are typically light to medium blue and are commonly referred to as “Ceylon Sapphires.”

All sapphires are made of the mineral corundum (crystalline aluminum oxide). In its pure state, the corundum is colorless, but when trace elements are naturally introduced to the chemical composition, all the magic happens.

Blue sapphires occur, for instance, when aluminum atoms are displaced with those of titanium and iron in the gem’s crystal lattice structure. Corundum has a hardness of 9 on the Mohs scale, compared to a diamond, which has a hardness of 10.

Sapphires are seen in many colors, including pink, purple, green, orange and yellow. Ruby is the red variety of corundum.

Credit: Bismarck necklace photo by Chip Clark/Smithsonian, digitally enhanced by SquareMoose.