Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you awesome songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, the legendary Neil Diamond sings about how “gold don’t rust” and “love don’t lie” in a country classic from his 1996 Tennessee Moon album.
Diamond, who was a pre-med student at New York University and can certainly find his way around a periodic table, took an interesting fact about a chemical property of gold and spun it into a love song.
Besides its rarity, value and radiance, gold in its purest form is an element that will never oxidize or rust. That’s why gold is considered a “noble precious metal” and has been used for jewelry and coinage for millennia.
In “Gold Don’t Rust,” Diamond assures his lover that she doesn’t have to worry every time he goes away. His sweet feelings for her will continue to shine.
He offers her a 24-karat commitment in the chorus, which goes like this: “Gold don’t rust / Love don’t lie / I’ll be true ’til the day that I die. / Trust in me, you will find / Baby, you’re the gold in this heart of mine / And that gold will shine for a long, long time.”
“Gold Don’t Rust,” which Diamond co-wrote with Gary Burr and Bob DiPiero, was the seventh track of Diamond’s 23rd studio album, Tennessee Moon. The album was certified gold (500,000 units sold) by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Over the course of his stellar 60-year career as a singer-songwriter-musician, Diamond has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Diamond was a member of Erasmus Hall High School’s Chorus and Choral Club along with close friend Barbra Streisand. Diamond was inspired to write music after meeting folk singer Pete Seeger, who visited a summer camp he was attending.
“And the next thing, I got a guitar when we got back to Brooklyn, started to take lessons and almost immediately began to write songs,” he told Rolling Stone magazine.
Just 10 credits short of an undergraduate degree from New York University, Diamond dropped out of college to take a 16-week assignment writing songs for Sunbeam Music Publishing. The job paid $50 per week. Later in his career, he would joke, “If this darn songwriting thing hadn’t come up, I would have been a doctor now.”
The 81-year-old Diamond shook the music world four years ago with the news that he’d been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and wouldn’t be touring anymore. Instead, he’s been collaborating on a Broadway-bound musical based on his life story and extensive catalog of timeless hits. “A Beautiful Noise, the Neil Diamond Musical” premiered on Tuesday at Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre.
Diamond was a surprise guest on opening night and earned a standing ovation as he took his seat in the audience. The show began a six-week engagement in Boston before it opens this fall in The Big Apple at the Broadhurst Theatre.
Please check out the audio track of Diamond’s “Gold Don’t Rust.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…
“Gold Don’t Rust”
Written by Gary Burr, Bob DiPiero and Neil Diamond. Performed by Neil Diamond.
I know you worry every time I go away
You wonder will these sweet, sweet feelings shine or fade
Well, that’s a question you don’t have to ask
What heaven makes, it always makes to last
Gold don’t rust
Love don’t lie
I’ll be true ’til the day that I die
Trust in me, you will find
Baby, you’re the gold in this heart of mine
And that gold will shine for a long, long time.
I wish that I could give you
What you need from me.
But what good is a promise or a guarantee?
Love is still a simple act of faith
And a faithful heart is always worth the wait
Gold don’t rust
Love don’t lie
I’ll be true ’til the day that I die
Trust in me, you will find
Baby, you’re the gold in this heart of mine,
And that gold will shine for a long, long time
Love is still a simple act of faith
And a faithful heart is always worth the wait
Gold don’t rust
Love don’t lie
I’ll be true ’til the day that I die
Trust in me, you will find
Baby, you’re the gold in this heart of mine
And that gold will shine for a long, long time
Baby you’re the gold in this heart of mine
And that gold will shine
For a long, long, long time
Yeah
Credit: Image by Irisgerh at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
