Peanut Butter and Sesame Seeds

Abba Zabba recalls the expanse of the alphabet, A (abba) to Z (zabba), the alpha and omega of creative power. The words appear in a Captain Beefheart song of the same name (1974). The lyrics are a sort of nursery rhyme about childhood rituals and seem to suggest that the primal syllables abba zabba are “song before song before song.” Abba Zabba is also the name of an old-fashioned peanut butter taffy candy bar. Interestingly, peanut butter figures into other magic words. "A-la Peanut Butter Sandwiches" has appeared in a "Rugrats" comic strip and is the Amazing Mumford’s magic expression on the Sesame Street television series. The peanut is like the sesame seed of "Open Sesame" fame—a spiritual food which unlocks a doorway to a world of wonders. The pods of peanuts and sesame plants open to reveal their seeds, just as the wall of rock opened for the legendary Ali Baba when he said the secret password.