Music Friday: 'Your Love Is a Pearl' in Joshua Kadison's 'Beautiful in My Eyes'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you romantic favorites with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, we shine the spotlight on one of the most requested wedding songs of the 1990s: “Beautiful in My Eyes” by Joshua Kadison.

Kadison’s lyrical love letter offers a sweet and sentimental prediction of how a relationship will become stronger through the years. Kadison pledges that even as they grow old together — and lines appear on their faces — she will always be beautiful in his eyes. To emphasize the concept of a “perfect” love, Kadison introduces an iridescent gem in the first verse.

He sings, “You’re my peace of mind / In this crazy world / You’re everything I’ve tried to find / Your love is a pearl.”

Released in 1994 as the second single from his critically acclaimed debut album Painted Desert Serenade, “Beautiful in My Eyes” ascended to #19 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and charted in seven countries. The song was Kadison’s most successful single, even surpassing the performance of his breakout hit, “Jessie.”

Thirty years after its release, “Beautiful in My Eyes” is still recommended on MyWeddingSongs.com's compilation of "25 Groom Dedicated Songs to His New Life Partner."

Born in Los Angeles in 1963, Kadison started writing songs at the age of 12. Four years later, he hit the road as a teenager, searching for life’s answers after the tragic death of his mother. He made a living performing at bars in cities, such as Santa Barbara, Nashville and Dallas. His major influences included Cole Porter, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Cat Stevens, Nina Simone, Igor Stravinsky and Bela Bartok.

“All of that time on the road was great therapy for me,” he told Billboard magazine. “It strengthened my soul and focused my songwriting — however corny that sounds.”

At 30 years old, he got his big break when he was signed by EMI Records and released Painted Desert Serenade. VH-1 named Kadison the network’s major video breakthrough artist of 1993.

Despite his commercial success, Kadison still didn’t feel fulfilled.

“It felt as if I had the world at my feet, but it wasn’t what my soul wanted,” he told songmeanings.com. “I felt I had learned all I could from my experiences in the pop music field. The lessons of fame and success and all that go with them were amazing, but I knew there was much more to life I had to learn.”

Kadison has been mostly out of the musical spotlight since 2012.

Please check out the video of Kadison’s performance of “Beautiful in My Eyes.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

“Beautiful in My Eyes”
Written and performed by Joshua Kadison.

You’re my peace of mind
In this crazy world
You’re everything I’ve tried to find
Your love is a pearl
You’re my Mona Lisa
You’re my rainbow skies
And my only prayer is that you realize…
You’ll always be beautiful in my eyes

The world will turn
And the seasons will change
And all the lessons we will learn
Will be beautiful and strange
We’ll have our fill of tears
Our share of sighs
My only prayer is that you realize…
You’ll always be beautiful in my eyes

You will always be
Beautiful in my eyes
And the passing years will show
That you will always grow
Ever more beautiful in my eyes

And there are lines upon my face
From a lifetime of smiles
When the time comes to embrace
For one long last while
We can laugh about
How time really flies
We won’t say good-bye
Cause’ true love never dies…
You’ll always be beautiful in my eyes

You will always be (You will always be)
Beautiful in my eyes (Beautiful in my eyes)
And the passing years will show
That you will always grow
Ever more beautiful in my eyes

The passing years will show
That you will always grow
Ever more beautiful in my eyes

Credit: Photo by Sabine from Deutschland, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Tomorrow Is Leap Day; Are You Ready for Some Role-Reversal Proposals?

In the 2010 romantic comedy Leap Year, talented real estate "stager" Anna Brady, played by Amy Adams, is forced to take extreme measures after her cardiologist boyfriend fails to produce an engagement ring after four years together.

Invoking the Irish tradition that empowers women to pop the question on Leap Day, she travels to Dublin to track down her fiancé at a business conference in time to deliver a marriage proposal on February 29.

Yes, tomorrow is Leap Day, a romantic 24 hours dedicated to women who feel that have waited far too long for their men to pop the question.

In a recent Chillisauce.com survey of more than 10,000 respondents, the UK-based men's lifestyle and event-planning website asked women if they were willing to propose to their partners. Exactly 57% declared they would be willing to do it, and interestingly 76% of men agreed that they should.

When asked about the best day to propose, 52% of the women chose Leap Day, compared to 25% who picked Valentine's Day.

The concept of women proposing to men on Leap Day is rooted in 5th century Ireland where St. Brigid of Kildare hammered out an arrangement with St. Patrick to permit women to propose to men on a single day every four years.

Irish monks brought this tradition to Scotland, and legend states that in 1288, the Scotts passed a law that allowed women to propose on Leap Day. If the man refused the proposal, he would have to pay a fine, ranging from a kiss, to a silk dress or a pair of gloves. In upper-class circles, the fine for a proposal denial was 12 pairs of gloves. Presumably, the gloves would hide the shame of not wearing an engagement ring.

Leap Day proposals eventually found their way to England, where the date of February 29 uniquely held no legal status. The English reasoned that traditional customs held no status on that day either. Thus, women were free to reverse the unfair custom that permitted only men to propose marriage.

Leap Day proposals are now celebrated in North America and around the world. So, gentlemen, if you've been dragging your feet regarding a proper proposal, you may be in for a February 29th that will truly change your life.

Credit: Image by BigStockPhoto.com.

Jonker I Diamond Headlines '100 Carats' Exhibit at LA's Natural History Museum

Said to be one of the most perfectly cut diamonds in the world, the seldom-seen 125.35-carat Jonker I Diamond is now headlining a special exhibition at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM).

Titled "100 Carats: Icons of the Gem World," the presentation features more than two dozen gems that have at least two things in common: Each weighs more than 100 carats and each represents the finest example of its type. The exhibition was assembled by the NHM in collaboration with Robert Procop Exceptional Jewels and runs through April 21, 2024.

The Jonker I Diamond is the largest stone cut from the 726-carat Jonker Diamond, which was the fourth-largest rough diamond in the world when it was found in 1934.

According to the NHM, the historic gem has passed through the hands of global royalty and Hollywood stars, but has not been on display at a museum for more than eight decades. In fact, the public has not seen this diamond since it was bought by a private collector in 1977.

Now, owner Ibrahim Al-Rashid has lent the Jonker I Diamond to NHM for display in this exhibition.

“The Jonker is one of the largest and most famous diamonds ever unearthed,” said Al-Rashid, who is also chairman of Miami-based Limestone Asset Management. “Its beauty and history are compelling. I'm grateful to have it on display for viewers to enjoy for the first time in many decades.”

In addition to the Jonker I Diamond, the gemstones on display in the NHM's Hixon Gem Vault include the following:

The Northern Light beryl (103.30 carats)
The Great White Emerald goshenite (168.20)
The Crown of Colombia emerald (241.04)
The Imperial tourmaline (111.09)
The Blue Star aquamarine (108.29)
The Magnificent paraiba (106.20)
Pride of Sri Lanka, The Healing Blue sapphire (186.82)
The Miracle sapphire (100.06)
The Scepter sapphire (127.30)
The Eastern Star sapphire (177.91)
The Princess Pink sapphire (109.82)
The Scarlet Red rubellite (112.68)
The Ukrainian Flag topaz (153.27)

“The show is a once-in-a-lifetime event,” said Dr. Aaron Celestian, NHM’s curator of mineral sciences. “The rarity of these gems cannot be overstated. Visitors will be able to see tremendous examples of gemstones in a rainbow of vivid colors that have been expertly cut to display their remarkable brilliance. I am thrilled that we’ve been able to bring these giant gems together for the first time.”

The Jonker Diamond has a wild backstory that includes a possible connection to the 3,106-carat Cullinan Diamond, the largest diamond ever unearthed.

On January 17, 1934, a rough diamond the size of a hen’s egg was pulled from a bucket of gravel at the Elandsfontein claim, 4.8 kilometers south of the Premier Mine in South Africa. The massive 726-carat rough diamond with a frosty ice-white color would take on the surname of Jacob Jonker, the 62-year-old digger who owned the claim.

Diamond experts speculated whether the 63.5mm x 31.75mm Jonker and the 3,106-carat Cullinan Diamond had once been conjoined, as their respective cleaved faces seemed to match up perfectly. The Cullinan Diamond had been discovered at the nearby Premier Mine 19 years earlier.

The Jonker rough was acquired by De Beers chairman Sir Ernest Oppenheimer and subsequently caught the attention of diamond dealer Harry Winston, who purchased the rough stone in 1935 for £75,000, the equivalent of £6.7 million ($8.5 million) today.

The Jonker diamond earned celebrity status when it was displayed during the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the Coronation of King George V and Queen Mary in May of that same year.

The next year, Winston contracted Lazare Kaplan to cut 13 finished gems from the original rough. The Jonker finished diamonds were each named with a Roman numeral, in size order. The largest was the Jonker I at 142.90 carats and the smallest was the Jonker XIII at 3.53 carats. The Jonker I was later re-cut to eliminate flaws and improve its brilliance. The new-and-improved version weighed 125.35 carats.

Please check out the five-minute NHM video, below, which highlights many of the beautiful gemstones in the exhibit, with expert commentary from Celestian, jewelry designer Robert Procop and former president of the Gemological Institute of America Bill Boyajian.

Credit: Image of Jonker I Diamond, photo courtesy of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.