In 1964, a 22-year-old Aretha Franklin declared in a song called “One Room Paradise” that she didn’t need to live in the lap of luxury or be draped in diamonds to be happy. A little one-room apartment would be totally fine as long as she could be with the man she loved.
Halfway through the tune, however, Franklin seems to be open to other possibilities: “Now, if one day he lucked up on a magic pot of gold (Pot of gold) / I wouldn’t mind a little diamond ring or a fur coat for the cold (Oooh!).”
Welcome to Music Friday when we often bring you throwback songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics.
Written by John Leslie McFarland, “One Room Paradise” first appeared as the final track of Runnin’ Out Of Fools, Franklin's seventh studio album.
While the song’s protagonist aspires to own something precious, Franklin — the star — had a penchant for regal jewelry. Throughout her nearly six-decade career, she was photographed wearing long strands of cultured pearls, jeweled earrings and ornate diamond rings.
The first woman to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (1987), Franklin earned 18 Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994. She scored 17 top-10 pop singles and 20 #1 R&B hits. She’s sold more than 75 million records worldwide and performed at the inaugurations of three presidents: Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.
Some of her most memorable hits include "Respect" (1967), "Chain of Fools" (1967), "I Say a Little Prayer" (1968), "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" (1968) and "Think" (1968). In 2008, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Franklin #1 on its list of the Greatest Singers of All Time.
Singer Mary J. Blige once commented, “Aretha is a gift from God. When it comes to expressing yourself through song, there is no one who can touch her. She is the reason why women want to sing. Aretha has everything — the power, the technique. She is honest with everything she says.”
Born in Memphis, TN, Aretha Louise Franklin honed her singing talent in the choir of her father’s New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit. At age 18, in 1960, she was signed by Columbia Records. By the end of that decade, she had cemented her status as the “Queen of Soul.” Franklin passed away in 2018 at the age of 76.
Please check out the audio track of Franklin’s “One Room Paradise.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…
“One Room Paradise”
Written by John Leslie McFarland. Performed by Aretha Franklin.
I don’t need no diamonds (She don’t need)
And I don’t need no money (She don’t need, she don’t)
Some people live in castles with 60 or 70 rooms (She don’t)
Some people dream about a penthouse tall or a mansion on the moon
But I got me a little one room paradise
And the man I love (And the man I love)
And that’s all I need now
And the man I love (And the man I love)
Some girls are crazy about diamonds (Diamonds)
Some go wild about furs (Go wild)
Some girls go for a lot of loot from a check book that ain’t hers (Sho’ ain’t hers)
But I got me a little one room to paradise
And the man I love (And the man I love)
And that’s all I need now
And the man I love (And the man I love)
Now, if one day he lucked up on a magic pot of gold (Pot of gold)
I wouldn’t mind a little diamond ring or a fur coat for the cold (Oooh!)
But if it meant I had to lose just what I’ve got right now (Right now)
Then I don’t need no gold anyhow (No, no!)
I can’t make love with no diamonds (Diamonds)
Give them all to somebody else (Anybody)
And what good is one hundred rooms if you’re there all by yourself (Yes, you)
So I’ll take me my little one room paradise
And the man I love (And the man I love)
Well, that’s all I need now
And the man I love (And the man I love)
I don’t need no diamonds (She don’t need no diamonds)
Said I don’t need no money (She don’t need no money, she don’t)
Credit: Image by Atlantic Records(Life time: Published before 1978 without a copyright notice), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
