Saffron is also the name of the daughter on Absolutely Fabulous who started out kind of mousy and shrewish, but as she got older, turned out sorta hot (but still a prude).
Nobody mentioned Donovan’s Number 1 single “Sunshine Superman.” He was supposedly “Britian[he’s Scottish] answer to Bob Dylan”
His other top tens where:
[ul][li]Hurdy Gurdy Man #5[/li]Atlantis #7[/ul]
Well, no, because the only useable part of the flower are the stigmas :). It’s the same thing as the thread type but they may stretch it a bit with tumeric (read down for tumeric)
Some facts about saffron (from: Spices: Saffron:
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Large quantities are deadly and narcotic.
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It takes 14,000 stigmas for one ounce of saffron.
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It costs 50 dollars (US) for a quarter ounce of saffron. However, for ten dollars you can get enough to flavor and color a number of meals.
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One part saffron to 150,000 parts water is enough to make the water bright yellow and still leave the flavor.
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Powdered saffron isn’t as strong as the threads and loses flavor quickly. Threads are best and you can be sure it is all saffron and not saffron powder with some fillers added).
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In the Mexican food aisles of some stores they sell “Mexican Saffron” which are the petals from the Safflower. It has no flavor but can be used for color. You can use tumeric for color and to give a somewhat saffron taste. Tumeric is often used to stretch Saffron.
-Meadow saffron (Colchium autumnale) is highly poisonous, so dont eat it folks! (All parts, especially the flowers)
It doesn’t take a lot of saffron to color and flavor a whole meal. I have seen a local TV chef use one or two threads for Paella and the color was still bright yellow.
BTW: I have seen Saffron bulbs sold for about 7 dollars each (modest price for the spice it yields).
I suspect Donovan is still pulling our respective legs with the vibrator claim. Remember Andy Warhol? He used to say “In the future, everybody will be famous for 15 minutes.” He later changed it to “In 15 minutes, everybody will be famous.”
Like GOD and Andy Kaufman, these folks like to keep us guessing. Yes, I am aware that both Andies are dead. Or are they?
The Frank Zappa song says “watch out where them huskies go…don’t you eat that yellow snow.” Pretty obvious to me.
I never understood what I Am Curious Yellow meant. Any clues?
Saffron is indeed a delight to cook with, but terribly expensive.
And yes, it was a hippie name like Strawberry or Sunshine or Rainbow.
TennHippie:
Maybe more of a hint than a clue: I faintly recall that the director (whoever he is) projected a trilogy of movies titled after the colours of his national flag (whatever that is). IIRC, the other colours might have been white and blue. Or maybe not. I might just be totally confused anyway, in which case this whole post might be more misdirection than a clue.
Bob the Random Expert
“If we don’t have the answer, we’ll make one up.”
rjk: Could you possibly be confusing the French trilogy: Red,White,
and Blue ? They were pretty good and somewhat erotic. I think they came out in the early 90s. Still guessing here…
could somebody please tell me what this thread is about? i understand the discussion of saffron, the spice, but what are rest of you talking about?
The French film trilogy “Red,” “White” and “Blue” did indeed refer to the colors of the French flag, and in some obscure way, each film was supposed to be a reflection on the meaning of liberty… equality… and fraternity (the three ideals of the French Revolution).
"I Am Curious (Yellow) and “I Am Curious (Blue)” were two Swedish films that really pushed the envelope between porn and avant-garde European arthouse films. I don’t KNOW that there was a connection to the colors of the Swedish flag, but since the Swedish flag is yellow and blue (a yellow cross on a blue background)… it’s entirely possible.
i know the song, i know it makes no sense to me, but i’m wondering if anybody understands what connection saffron and “mellow yellow” have to corduroy pants? i guess it sticks in people’s minds because it confuses them so, but it also really bugs me. the vest commercial with the “dress you up in my love” song at least had something to do with clothing, but the cords one has me stumped.
palmolive*
jti
*
The Gap commercial. It’s along the same wavelength as the Gap commercial where the kids sing Dress You Up.
In an interview in some teen magazine I remember Donovan saying that Saffron was the name of his cat.
That was over thirty years ago and I’m relying on memory.
JACK
Lumpy- Ya know how you can buy Coca-Cola six packs in Atlanta for like . 75 a pack? Location, Location, Location, my friend. A few years ago, I found myself in Marrakech. ( Yes, that is the preferred spelling ). We all went to the Shuk ( god know’s how THAT is suppsed to be transliterated). There it was- the Spices Area. My god. In addition to the suspicious glass vials with “Male problem cures”-no kidding- were BARRELS of Saffron.
Yes, Lumpy, it IS used as a dye. Every carpet I saw ( and, I am a picky shopper, I saw over 305,000 carpets in two days) had colors ranging from subtle pale yellow to what can only be described as “In Your Face Have A Nice Day Dammit, I’m Tripping Leave My Yurt In Peace Yellow”. This is commonly used in that part of the world. The amazing blues were achieved with Indigo.
Just look at the ranges of oranges and reds in Native American weaving. Cranberries…etc.
Ya works with what yas gots.
Typer
Clearly the Gap picked that song because they sense that many of their young consumers secretly identify with a faux-'60s hippy-dippy nonsensical laid-backness, and wish to advertise this by wearing corduroy pants. It is back to school time after all, and there are a lot of clothes commercials on the air.
My “favorite” is the robotic ennui of “Hello Locker … Hello Pencils … Hello Lunchbox … Hello Kitty …”
i live in a Gap deprived area, and still have no idea what you’re talking about, but never mind - I’ll get over it.
palmolive: Haven’t you noticed that in the last few years there have been a lot of commercials using songs the Boomers grew up hearing? They don’t necessarily have anything to do with the product. Some are clever in a cutesy way (I kinda like the Gap ad)…but some are atrocious. John Lennon selling stuff on television? Imagine that.
jti, this is a reference to a Gap commercial where there are a group of young, similarly dressed men and women sitting on stairs. One guy sings, “I am crazy about Saffron.” Then a girl sings, “Saffron’s mad about me.” It repeats, with a different set of actors. Then they all sing in chorus , “They call it Mellow Yellow. They call it Mellow Yellow.”
A message appears that refers to cords, as in cordorouys. It’ll apparently play for another week. It usually plays during teenage shows, like “Real World” or “Dawson’s Creek.” That may explain why you haven’t seen it.
TennHippie observed that in the last few years there have been a lot of commercials using songs the Boomers grew up hearing. Very true. And interesting. Could it be that there isn’t much worth listening to nowadays? Could be also that the ad people are going where the money is, GAP and a few other commercials being the exceptions to the rule.
According to my ex, who was a teen in the sixties & is a big Donavon fan, Donavon was sixteen at the time he recorded Mellow Yellow & his girlfriend was 14. I interpret this as Saffron is his girlfriend.
Also, acid was distributed on paper tabs with pictures printed in single colors on each tab. Different sources would use different colors & pictures - they were referred to fondly by either the picture or the color.
Donovan was always a bit weird. When you want to hide your meaning in gibberish, I guess it was cooler. I just dismissed the Donovan stuff (Atlantis etc.) as peace/love/new age/hippie/mother earth stuff and let it go at that. It’s like all that complicated Grateful Dead symbolism and cult stuff. I never could take it seriously. When John Lennon sang, half the time he was serious. Half the time silly.