Lyrics I Love #36: My Diamond Is Too Rough

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About the Song

Track: My Diamond Is Too Rough

Length: 5:36

Album: Fear and Saturday Night (2015)

Artist: Ryan Bingham

Songwriters: Ryan Bingham

Favorite part: 

“I’d never trade it for their love”

©℗ Axster Bingham Records

Here’s Why I Love It

This is my guy, right here. I was at a crossroads about which Ryan Bingham song to share with you. I just like so many of them—Depression, Bluebird, Snake Eyes, Nobody Knows About My Trouble, etc. I can go on and on. He combines great imagery and symbolism with the deep-rooted growing pains of southwestern America. A real-life cowboy and descendant of that gritty outlaw country (not to be confused with that glossy commercial stuff). At the same time, though, his music is fun. Bingham’s live album (which also has a concert documentary on Amazon) is probably my most listened to album this year so far. It’s not just him as an artist—the band is so damn good. The fiddle, fuck, amazing.

Anyway, so why this song? At first, I wasn’t too sure I liked the title. It took me a while, but as I listened to the song, I liked it more and more. The story is priceless. It’s a song about perseverance and commitment to who you are as an artist. I think all artists can relate to this internal discussion as they scratch and crawl to be heard or seen. To create an audience that wants to listen, read, and watch their stuff. Along that journey you meet a lot of people who tell you, “You’re not doing it the right way” or “You just need a little polishing.” They think they can carve you into something you’re not because, after all, you’re a diamond. There’s potential there. Of course, this is all emphasized in the second verse: “For all of your suffering / Nobody gives a good goddamn / It’s all about the money, son / We doubt you understand.” And the rest of the song just expounds upon this story. Autobiographical? I’m not sure, but it sounds like it. Like Bingham sings, “My diamond is too rough.” 

But that’s why I chose the single line above as my favorite. I love it. You can’t trade in the thing that makes you you for the love of another—person, system, corporation, whatever. Without that thing, you are nothing, essentially.

*This article is part of the ongoing Lyrics I Love series: short interpretations of the meaning and story behind one song with lyrics that move me.