There’s this marvellous old poem by Jenny Joseph that reads: When I am an old woman I shall wear purple, With a red hat that doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me…
Well, it appears that as I grow older, I should eat purple fruits, “the new green”?
Apparently the new health food trend is purple fruits and veges that contain anthocyanins, “health promoting chemicals that help protect cells and heal”. Indeed.
While I like the colour purple, and purple fruits are delicious, I am not too sure about purple carrots, cauliflower and potatoes. Feel a bit of that “new green” at the thought.
Fortunately that thought pursued its own little path and a synapses in the brain began lighting up like fireworks on New Year’s Eve.
So I wonder, (like Rodriguez did) whether The Purple People Eaters also ate purple food. These guys were the defensive line of the Minnesota Vikings from the late 1960s to the late 1970s.
The term is also a reference to a popular song from 1958 commenting on their efficiency in defense, and the colour of their uniforms…so we deduce that wearing purple, is in fact old hat.
Frolicking along the neuropath byways another synapses burst into flame and reminded me of the English rock band, Deep Purple who formed in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock and are well known for their song, Smoke on the water: a fire in the sky (rather like my brain activity).
Then it was just a hop, skip and a jump for the thought to traverse a little distance to connect to Jimmy Hendrix’s album, Purple haze: all in my brain….and there we go again, bumping into Jung’s theory of synchronicity.
So the next connection is obviously Purple Rain, the sixth studio album by American recording artist, Prince, and the soundtrack album to the 1984 film of the same name.
The album was released on June 25, 1984 and has sold over 22 million copies worldwide, becoming the sixth best-selling soundtrack album. And you know what’s coming, the novel, The Color Purple, by American author, Alice Walker who won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction.
It was later adapted into a film and musical of the same name.
Purple, it appears, is a really positive colour for defense, clothing, music, books and food.
So don”t be surprised when suddenly I wear, sing and eat the colour purple and embrace it with all my purple heart.
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