Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you uplifting songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, alt-country rocker Ryan Adams compares a glorious, sunny day to June’s official birthstone in his 2007 ditty, “Pearls on a String.”
The song, which appeared as the ninth track on the artist’s ninth studio album Easy Tiger, is a celebration of all the wonderful things life has to offer — with a special emphasis on nature’s beauty and the joy of music.
He sings, “Blue eyes for miles / Pretty as a peach / Glorious kind and always on time / Never far outta reach / Tomorrow’s on it’s way / And there’s always new songs to sing / Glorious kind, always on time / Pearls on a string.”
In an interview with Australia’s Herald Sun, Adams explained that the songs featured on Easy Tiger are “strays” that arose from a writing project that was originally intended to go in a different direction.
“They are very, very simple, very easy songs that, in my opinion, were written on the periphery of some more complex work,” he said. “These were the tunes around them that just kind of happened. It’s shocking to me how they happened.”
Easy Tiger made its debut at #7 on the U.S. Billboard 200 list and charted in 14 countries. The 43-year-old Adams has released 16 albums as a solo artist and three with his former band, Whiskeytown.
Born in Jacksonville, N.C., Adams described his childhood as “dysfunctional.” His father left the family when Adams was five, so he, his mom and siblings had to move in with his grandparents. At age eight, Adams began writing short stories and was inspired by the work of Edgar Allan Poe. At 14, he got his first electric guitar and soon joined a local band named Black Label.
Adams dropped out of high school as a 16-year-old and performed with a number of local bands. He eventually earned his GED and built his reputation as a singer-songwriter, musician, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and poet. He’s been called a “new Dylan” and “the Kurt Cobain of alt-country.”
In 2009, he famously married singer-actress Mandy Moore in a secret ceremony. They were divorced in 2015.
Please check out the audio track of “Pearls on a String.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…
“Pearls On A String”
Written by Bradley Smith Pemberton, Jonathan Graboff, Neal Graeme Casal and Ryan Adams. Performed by Ryan Adams.
One, two, three
Blue eyes for miles
Pretty as a peach
Glorious kind and always on time
Never far outta reach
Tomorrow’s on it’s way
And there’s always new songs to sing
Glorious kind, always on time
Pearls on a string
Soft, precious and easy
Under the sea
If you dive down far enough to the bottom
Look around and you will see
Tomorrow’s on it’s way
And there’s always new songs to sing
Glorious kind, always on time
Pearls on a string
Glorious kind, and always on time
Pearls on a string
The sun shinin’ down
The children laugh and play
Glorious kind, and always on time
Out there in the day
Tomorrow’s on it’s way
And there’s always new songs to sing
Glorious kind, and always on time
Pearls on a string
Glorious kind, always on time
Pearls on a string
Glorious kind, always on time
Pearls on a string
Glorious kind, always on time
Pearls on a string
Credit: Screen capture via YouTube.com.