And why is she mad about me?
According to this month’s National Geographic, in a story about Kashmir, it is the “world’s most costly spice”. So which one of the Spice Girls is making the most money nowadays?
I am Saffron.
And I wish Donny had never written that damn song!
I thought she was Edina’s daughter, sweetie!
No, Flora, she became Sylvia’s mother.
Ummm… well… saffron and fourteen were slang names for specific ‘designer’ drugs in the late sixties… but I’m sure this has nothing to do with Donovan’s lyrics…
Hey, what’s the name of that song, and who is the original artist?
I don’t know if it is the answer but one of saffron’s notable qualities is its bright yellow color.
The song is “Mellow Yellow” by Donavan (last name Leitch, but he didn’t use it in his stage name).
“non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem”
– William of Ockham
uh, Donovan. Sorry.
BTW, he wasn’t noted for readily understandable lyrics. Kind of a feel-good, peace-love-dope kinda guy. So don’t look too far for deep meanings.
Nice voice though – had some good songs.
“non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem”
– William of Ockham
I “discovered” Donovan a few years back when I heard Season of the Witch at the at the end of the movie To Die For. I got his Greates Hits, and found out that I like a lot of his songs. I notice them in different movies now, like Jennifer Juniper in Election. Some people thyink I’m wierd for liking Donovan. I’ll tell you who’s wierd; those people who listen to stuff like Matchbox 20, Third Eye Blind, and Korn.
It’s tough typing with these big Mickey Mouse gloves stuck on my hands.
Continuing our yellow theme – I saw in the paper today that they have re-released “Yellow Submarine”. Can’t wait to see it again.
Must be something about yellow hippie stuff in the air lately.
“non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem”
– William of Ockham
BTW, saffron is really expensive. You can buy it at the grocery store but the regular size spice jar has a little envelope inside with some small fraction of an ounce of saffron in it. If your grocery has the little price-per-pound tags on the shelf check it out sometime. Last time I looked it was thousands of dollars per pound.
On the other hand, a little goes a long way.
I can’t verify this, but IIRC the expense is due to the difficulty in harvesting the stuff. It is the pollen from some flower and they have to shake nine zillion blossoms to get a useful amount.
“non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem”
– William of Ockham
It’s the ground dried stigma (not stamen) of an crocus flower, Crocus sativus. Hand-gathered and yes, very expensive. Can’t make a lot of indian dishes without it, though.
“Eppur, si muove!” - Galileo Galilei
“From each crocus flower patient hands will pluck three vivid garnet strands of saffron. An acre yields only a few pounds of the the world’s most costly spice.” Nat. Geog.
Gaudere;
I’ve had success making India dishes with something they call saffron powder. It comes for the same flower, but is just the ground up petals (or something). The flavor is not exactly the same, but for about 1/1000th of the price, I find it a reasonable substitute.
This tip of the day was brought to you by the “Tastes Like chicken Kitchens”
“I think it would be a great idea” Mohandas Ghandi’s answer when asked what he thought of Western civilization
JoeyBlades: You may have tongue firmly planted in cheek, but let’s not confuse the kids. Saffron and fourteen were NOT slang terms for anything, ULs to the contrary. His reference to “electrical banana” and the title, “Mellow Yellow” were jokes that got taken a little too seriously. As the drug craze got out of hand in the late 60’s, people were trying all kinds of nutty things to get high. The Village Voice, satirizing this trend, published a joke recipe for making a hallucinogen from banana peels. Some folks (probably already high on something) took it for real and it led to the smoking of banana skins and other
silliness. I’m fairly sure that Donovan was playing along with the parody, but I guess I can’t be certain. Another Urban Legend was born…and is now revived thanks to a pants commercial? This world just gets wackier all the time…I love it!
For years, I assumed that “mellow yellow” was some kind of psychedelic drug reference, and perhaps it was. However, according to the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll (written by Jon Pareles and Patricia Romanowski), Donovan NOW says the song was actually about a dildo!
I’m not sure I want to know any more about it!
The yellow robes worn by certain Buddhist sects are invariably described as “saffron robes”. I presume they don’t actually use saffron as a dye.
And on the subject of “yellow” pertaining to the Sixties, I also recall the song “Don’t Eat Yellow Snow” (can’t think of the artist- Zappa?) and the movie “I am curious-Yellow”.
For years, I assumed that “mellow yellow” was some kind of psychedelic drug reference, and perhaps it was.
Yeah, that’s the one that started the bannana peel smoking craze.
Seriously.
They call it mellow yellow, quite rightly.
And also, before the dildoe story, they used to tell that it was somehow about the guitar player, ‘lovin’ spoonful’, with john sebastian, who used the nickname ‘banana’, Zal Yavonsky, or something like that, for his real name.
(e lectric al ban an a, goin to be a sudden craze, elecrical banana, bound to be the very next phase.)
OK, I guess that works for vibrator.
Banana me now?
Maybe Donovan’s just putting people on.