Music Friday: Eddie Murphy Buys His Girlfriend Diamond Rings in 1985’s ‘Party All the Time’

Eddie Murphy's movies have earned more than $6 billion at the box office, but did you know that the actor-comedian-writer-producer also came thisclose to topping the Billboard music charts in 1985 with his hit song, “Party All the Time”?

The synth-pop ditty penned by Rick James is about a heartbroken lover who is clueless about why his girlfriend likes to party without him even though he lavishes her with expensive gifts, including diamond rings.

He sings, “I buy you champagne and roses and diamonds on your finger (Diamonds on your finger) / Still you hang out all night / What am I to do?”

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you fun — and often nostalgic — songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title.

Coming off a successful run on NBC’s Saturday Night Live and a Golden Globe nomination for his role as Axel Foley in the movie Beverly Hills Cop, Murphy found himself in an exciting, but strange, new venue — James’s home-based recording studio in Buffalo, NY.

Besides writing “Party All the Time,” the famed “Super Freak” artist produced and arranged the song, provided backup vocals and even appeared in the music video.

The catchy hook, “My girl wants to party all the time, party all the time, party all the time,” proved irresistible to the masses and the song quickly ascended to #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, helped along by MTV, which put the song in heavy rotation.

"Party All the Time" may have been a #1 tune had it not been for Lionel Richie’s “Say You, Say Me," which wouldn't budge out of the top spot in the fall of 1985.

Now, more than 35 years after its release, “Party All the Time” is trying to find its rightful place in music history. The official Youtube video has been viewed more than 64 million times since being posted in 2014. The song accumulated 529,000 likes compared to only 19,000 dislikes.

Despite the overwhelmingly positive reaction of the masses, VH-1, Blender and AOL Radio all ranked "Party All the Time" on their lists of the “Worst Songs Ever.”

Trivia: It's rumored that Murphy recorded "Party All the Time" to settle a $100,000 wager with fellow comedian Richard Pryor, who claimed Murphy had no singing talent.

Please check out the official music video of Murphy performing “Party All the Time.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

“Party All the Time”
Written by Rick James. Performed by Eddie Murphy.

Girl
I can’t understand it why you want to hurt me
After all the things I’ve done for you.
I buy you champagne and roses and diamonds on your finger –
Diamonds on your finger –
Still you hang out all night
what am I to do?

My girl wants to party all the time

Party all the time
party all the time.
My girl wants to party all the time
party all the time.

She parties all the time party all the time
She likes to party all the time party all the time
Party all the time she likes to party all the time
Party all the time.

Girl
I’ve seen you in clubs just hanging out and dancing.
You give your number to every man you see.
You never come home at night because you’re out romancing
I wish you bring some of your love home to me.

But my girl wants to party all the time
My girl wants to party all the time

Party
Party
party she likes to party all the time.
She likes to party all the time
She lets her hair down
she lets her body down,
She lets her body
She lets her body down.
Party all the time do you want to get any party
Yeah.
Party all the time party all the time.

Credit: Screen capture via Youtube.com / Eddie Murphy.

355 Colorful Gems Imitate Embroidered Fabric in Fabergé Brooch From 1913

A colorful array of 355 gemstones imitate embroidered fabric in a Fabergé brooch that will be auctioned by Christie's London on November 29. The auction house set the presale high estimate at $122,000.

Christie's noted that the "incredibly delicate and rare brooch is one of the most imaginative and recognizable designs produced by Fabergé."

Peter Carl Fabergé and his company famously designed a series of 50 bejeweled eggs for the Russian Imperial Family from 1885 to 1917. Alexander III and Nicholas II commissioned many of the “Imperial” eggs as Easter gifts for their wives and mothers. The meticulously crafted objets d’art were produced up until the Russian Revolution, when the Fabergé family fled Russia.

Designed in St. Petersburg circa 1913, the piece seen above measures only 4.3 cm across (about 1 5/8 inches). Despite its small size, the platinum trellis-work panel contains 640 holes — 40 across and 16 down. More than half of them are set with diamonds, rubies, topaz, sapphires, demantoids, garnets and emeralds in a Russian-influenced floral motif. The perimeter of the brooch is framed by diamonds, but many of the holes just inside the perimeter are left empty to create a sense of dimension and negative space.

Fabergé artisans cut each of the square holes by hand and each gemstone had to be calibré-cut in such a way that it would perfectly fit into its designated space of approximately 1mm x 1mm.

According to Christie's, the same technique was employed for the Imperial Mosaic Egg presented by Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna in 1914. That egg is now part of the Royal Collection.

The Mosaic Egg was designed by Alma Pihl (1888-1976), who had deep ties with the Fabergé organization. Her father, Oscar Pihl, was head of Fabergé’s jewelry workshop in Moscow and her grandfather, August Holmström, was a Fabergé workmaster. According to jewelry-industry lore, Alma Pihl was inspired to produce the floral embroidery motif after watching her mother-in-law do needlework by the fireside.

Most recently, the piece was owned by Harry Woolf, a London-based businessman, who began to collect Fabergé items in the early 1970s. Christie's November 29 auction is titled "A Selection of Fabergé Masterpieces from the Harry Woolf Collection."

Credits: Images courtesy of Christie's.

Olympic Tennis Star Monica Puig Shows Off Engagement Ring on Instagram

Monica Puig, the 2016 Olympic gold medalist in women's tennis, has a lot to smile about despite having to bow out of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to multiple surgeries. The Puerto Rican athlete announced with a series of Instagram photos that she got engaged over the weekend to fellow athlete Nathan Rakitt.

The jagged mountains of Lost Dutchman State Park in Arizona served as a majestic backdrop for a romantic proposal that saw Rakitt going down and one knee and presenting his girlfriend with what we believe is a princess-cut diamond ring.

"He said: Ready to jump?! I SAID YES!!!!!!" Puig wrote on Instagram. She punctuated her caption with two emojis: a red heart and a diamond ring.

Rakitt shared the same photos on his Instagram and exclaimed, "SHE SAID YES!!!!!!!"

Puig added a closeup photo on her ring to her Instagram story and captioned it, "Ninety percent sure I'm still dreaming."

A second image on her Instagram story showed the athlete in a workout room. She's grasping her morning coffee and aiming her new ring at the camera. She wrote, “Actin totally different this morning" and added three diamond ring emojis.

The tennis star also cleverly established a catchy wedding hashtag — #RacketsToRakitts — that links her profession to her new fiancé's last name.

Puig has been battling a series of injuries that prevented her from defending her Olympic crown. She had elbow surgery in December of 2020 and went under the knife again in June 2021 to have her rotator cuff and bicep tendon repaired.

Still, the 28-year-old told ESPN.com that her goal is to compete at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

It's not clear how long the couple has been dating, but People.com reported that Puig began commenting on the 28-year-old Rakitt's Instagram posts in December of 2020.

This past April, the relationship seemed to advance to the next level on Instagram, where the couple traded sweet comments, each punctuated by a red heart emoji. Rakitt posted a photo of him and Puig and captioned it, "This girl." She commented, "I love you."

Credits: Images via Instagram / monicaace93 and Instagram / nrakitt.

Music Friday: Victoria Justice Expresses Empowerment in Her Debut Single, 'Gold'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you fun songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today former Nickelodeon star Victoria Justice expresses female empowerment in her 2013 debut single, “Gold.”

In the song, a girl is trying to tell a long-time buddy that she’d like to be more than just friends.

She sings, "Hey, boy, whatcha gonna do / If you want me like I want you, then man up and make your move / I’m Gold, Gold."

Justice explained to Artistdirect how the word "gold" in the lyrics is intended to convey empowerment, not conceit.

"It's not like I'm saying, 'I'm gold. You should love me because I'm amazing and awesome.' It's more like, 'I feel empowered about myself. I feel good as a woman. I have self-respect. You should go for me!'"

Called the “perfect summer tune” by MTV Buzzworthy, “Gold” combines flirtatious, confident lyrics with an upbeat, carefree vibe.

The 28-year-old Justice became a household name in 2010 when she starred on the hit Nickelodeon series Victorious. With the release of her debut single, she followed the leads of fellow Nickelodeon alumnae Ariana Grande and Miranda Cosgrove, who also transitioned from acting to music.

Born in Hollywood, FL, in 1993, Victoria Dawn Justice made her acting debut as a 10-year-old on The WB comedy series, Gilmore Girls. Two years later, she landed the role of Lola Martinez on Nickelodeon's comedy-drama series, Zoey 101. From 2010 to 2013, she played Tori Vega on Victorious.

After releasing "Gold" in 2013, Justice took a seven-year hiatus from the music industry, returning in December 2020 with her single, "Treat Myself."

Trivia: Justice's love interest in the official video for "Gold" is played by Colton Haynes, who starred in the MTV series, Teen Wolf.

Please check out the video of Justice performing "Gold." The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

“Gold”
Written by Tove Nilsson, Peter Thomas, Jason Weiss, Sam Shrieve, Ben Camp, Jakob Jerlström and Ludvig Söderberg. Performed by Victoria Justice.

I’ve tried to let it go
But these butterflies I can’t ignore
‘Cause every time that I look at you
Know we’re in a catch-22
We’ve been friends for so long but I
Need to tell you what’s on my mind
I’m sick and tired of playing games
‘Cause I know that you feel the same

I know you inside out, so I’m asking now
Take a chance on me
How much clearer can I be?

Hey, boy, whatcha gonna do
If you want me like I want you, then man up and make your move
I’m Gold, Gold
You, me, good as can be, want to be more than your company
So bet your money on me
I’m Gold, Gold

Do I really need to spell it out?
My heart skips when you’re around
I got everything that you need
So come on baby get close to me
So confused that I’m not surprised
From greater bells, and rolled the dice
Know all your moves, don’t know why I fall
Should put me out, but I want it all

I know you inside out, so I’m asking now
Take a chance on me
How much clearer can I be?

Hey, boy, whatcha gonna do
If you want me like I want you, then man up and make your move
I’m Gold, Gold
You, me, good as can be, want to be more than your company
So bet your money on me
I’m Gold, Gold

Na ra ta la la
I’m Gold, Gold
Na ra ta la la
I’m Gold, Gold

Been to cool just to tell you straight out, but by now I wish you figured it out, I wish you figured it, I wish you figured it, I wish ya
You’re not a fool you see what I’m about, so by now I think you figured it out, I think you figured it out, I think you figured it out, I think ya!

Hey, boy, whatcha gonna do
If you want me like I want you, then man up and make your move
I’m Gold, Gold
You, me, good as can be, want to be more than your company
So bet your money on me
I’m Gold, Gold

Na ra ta la la
I’m Gold, Gold
Na ra ta la la
I’m Gold, Gold

Credits: Screen capture via YouTube.com.

Danish Metal Detectorist Stumbles Upon 1,500-Year-Old Gold Treasures

A novice treasure hunter using his metal detector for the first time recently stumbled upon one of the largest, richest and most beautiful hoards of gold artifacts in Danish history.

Ole Ginnerup Schytz was looking for a place to try out his new metal detector, so he asked an old classmate if he could explore his property in Vindelev. Within a few hours, Schytz had literally struck gold — although he initially believed the crunched up, muddied metal he pulled from the ground was "the lid on a can of sour herring."

The lucky metal detectorist continued to strike gold at the site, netting 22 pieces dating back 1,500 years to pre-Viking times. The hoard weighed a total of 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds).

The site was subsequently excavated by archaeologists from Vejlemuseerne, in collaboration with experts from the Danish National Museum. The project was funded by Denmark's Agency for Culture and Palaces.

Archaeologists determined that the treasure was buried in a longhouse that was likely owned by an Iron Age chieftain.

"Only a member of the absolute cream of society would have been able to collect a treasure like the one found here," explained Mads Ravn, Head of Research at Vejlemuseerne.

The Vindelev Hoard consists of saucer-sized, beautifully decorated medallions, also known as bracteates. The recovery also included Roman coins that had been made into jewelry.

The burial of the gold may have been connected to a climate disaster that struck in the year 536 AD. Ash clouds from a large volcanic eruption resulted in many years of crop failure and famine.

According to many researchers, the catastrophe of 536 AD caused the inhabitants of what is now Denmark to reject the old rulers and bury lots of gold during this period — perhaps to to save it from enemies, or possibly to appease the gods.

In less than four months, the Vindelev Hoard will be presented to the public as part of Vejlemuseerne's large Viking exhibition, which opens on February 3, 2022.

Credits: Top two images courtesy of Vejle Museums. Bottom two images courtesy of Conservation Center Vejle.