Surry down to a stoned soul picnic
Marius Hancu
A 60s song:
-----
Surry down to a stoned soul picnic
Stoned Soul Picnic Lyrics by Fifth Dimension
http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Fifth-Dimension/Stoned-Soul-Picnic.html
-----
Any ideas what
"surry down"
and
"stoned picnic"
could mean?
--
Thanks.
Marius Hancu
alan
"Marius Hancu" <marius...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:79fa3099-9aec-411c...@o36g2000vbl.googlegroups.com...
First of all, I'd say that "surry" is a misspelling of "surrey", a sort of
horse carriage; "surrey down" would mean "take a carriage down to . . ."
As for "stoned soul picnic", I think that's also a misspelling. It should
be "stone soul picnic", with the word "stone" being slang for "real" or
"genuine", as in "that man's a stone fool". A "stone soul picnic" is
probably, given other references to "plenty of time and wine", "come the
Lord and the lightning", etc, a reference to some sort of Christian concept
of a happy gathering of souls (i.e. heaven).
Song lyric transcription is often inaccurate and there can be many versions
floating around. For example, this site shows both "surry" and "surrey",
and while the lyrics show "stoned soul picnic", the song's title is given as
"Stone Soul picnic":
http://www.whosdatedwho.com/topic/7114/stone-soul-picnic.htm
P.S. I think the Four Tops originally did this song . . .
Ray O'Hara
"Marius Hancu" <marius...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:79fa3099-9aec-411c...@o36g2000vbl.googlegroups.com...
>
> A 60s song:
> -----
> Surry down to a stoned soul picnic
>
> Stoned Soul Picnic Lyrics by Fifth Dimension
> http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Fifth-Dimension/Stoned-Soul-Picnic.html
> -----
A zsurrey is a small horse drawn carriage.
Stoned soul, well Ms Nyro was a member of the hippie generation and she
probably means stoned as in high.
A later line mentions moonshine which is illicit liquor.
Maria Conlon
> A 60s song:
> -----
> Surry down to a stoned soul picnic
>
> Stoned Soul Picnic Lyrics by Fifth Dimension
> http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Fifth-Dimension/Stoned-Soul-Picnic.html
> -----
> Any ideas what
> "surry down"
> and
> "stoned picnic"
> could mean?
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoned_Soul_Picnic_(song):
"'Surry down' is explained as follows: "The verb "surry" is spelled
differently from the word "surrey" likely because its meaning is meant
to be different. In the case of the song lyric, "surry down" is a term
coined by its writer, Laura Nyro, to evoke a feeling of perhaps
spiritedly sashaying or meandering over to where a picnic (of sorts) is
transpiring. Call it creative license of a writer, one which Laura Nyro
exercised regularly."
My interpretation of the meaning of "stoned soul picnic": It's a picnic,
and all the "souls" (people) in attendance will be (or already are)
"stoned" -- either on alcohol or something else.
--
Maria Conlon
R H Draney
"Stone" was being used as a intensifier by hip young people around the time Ms
Nyro wrote the song...in a couple of episodes of "The Monkees", Mike Nesmith
describes something unpleasant as "a stone drag"....
Interpretation of "stone soul picnic" would be a gathering with a lot of
"soul"...that's a *lot* of soul, not just a sufficient amount....r
--
A pessimist sees the glass as half empty.
An optometrist asks whether you see the glass
more full like this?...or like this?
Ray O'Hara
"R H Draney" <dado...@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:h9unr...@drn.newsguy.com...
The trouble with your interpetation is the fact that it is STONED Soul
Picnic.
That is the name of both abum and song.
http://www.google.com/musicl?lid=Zw5JC5nQP8K&aid=gjW_VsH4LlP.
A STONED soul is a buzzed soul.
Default User
> Hello:
>
> A 60s song:
> -----
> Surry down to a stoned soul picnic
>
> Stoned Soul Picnic Lyrics by Fifth Dimension
Actually, by the great Laura Nyro. The Fifth Dimension covered that
song (along with several other), but she recorded it first on the very
fine album, "Eli and Thirteenth Confession".
> Any ideas what
> "surry down"
Ms. Nyro liked to play with words and phrases to evoke a mood. What she
actually meant, whether it had to do with riding carriages (which would
be surrEys) or something else, has never been clear.
> and
> "stoned picnic"
> could mean?
It's best to just regard this song as a feast for the senses. Imagine a
gathering of friends in a outdoor venue, with copious wine and . . . .
other mood enhancers. Talking, laughing, loving. Sometimes the sun is
shining, sometimes thunder and lightning. Stoned souls indeed.
Brian
--
Day 240 of the "no grouchy usenet posts" project
Marius Hancu
This I did:-)
Thank you all.
Marius Hancu
Percival P. Cassidy
>> A 60s song:
>> -----
>> Surry down to a stoned soul picnic
>>
>> Stoned Soul Picnic Lyrics by Fifth Dimension
>
> Actually, by the great Laura Nyro. The Fifth Dimension covered that
> song (along with several other), but she recorded it first on the very
> fine album, "Eli and Thirteenth Confession".
>
>> Any ideas what
>> "surry down"
>
> Ms. Nyro liked to play with words and phrases to evoke a mood. What she
> actually meant, whether it had to do with riding carriages (which would
> be surrEys) or something else, has never been clear.
A variant of "hurry down"? But now implying a more leisurely pace?
>> and
>> "stoned picnic"
>> could mean?
>
> It's best to just regard this song as a feast for the senses. Imagine a
> gathering of friends in a outdoor venue, with copious wine and . . . .
> other mood enhancers. Talking, laughing, loving. Sometimes the sun is
> shining, sometimes thunder and lightning. Stoned souls indeed.
The phrase "stoned soul picnic" came back to me this afternoon as I was
painting (as in "house" rather than "picture"), and it occurred to me
that the first two words might have been intended as a variant of "stone
cold," as in "stone-cold sober"; but nobody is sober at this picnic:
they are all "stoned" on something.
Perce
CDB
> Marius Hancu wrote:
>> A 60s song:
>> -----
>> Surry down to a stoned soul picnic
>>
>> Stoned Soul Picnic Lyrics by Fifth Dimension
>
> Actually, by the great Laura Nyro. The Fifth Dimension covered that
> song (along with several other), but she recorded it first on the
> very fine album, "Eli and Thirteenth Confession".
>
>> Any ideas what
>> "surry down"
>
> Ms. Nyro liked to play with words and phrases to evoke a mood. What
> she actually meant, whether it had to do with riding carriages
> (which would be surrEys) or something else, has never been clear.
>
I think the lyrics offer some indication, though: "Can you surry?"
makes surrying sound to me like something you do without the aid of a
horse and buggy. I had always assumed, without thinking much about
it, that the surry and the picnic were, like the monkey, the swim, the
frug, and many others, dances that I would never learn to do (I
preferred free-form dancing), but the idea of a free and casual walk
fits too, and from sashay to surry is not so big a step.
>> and
>> "stoned picnic"
>> could mean?
>
> It's best to just regard this song as a feast for the senses.
> Imagine a gathering of friends in a outdoor venue, with copious
> wine and . . . . other mood enhancers. Talking, laughing, loving.
> Sometimes the sun is shining, sometimes thunder and lightning.
> Stoned souls indeed.
Ah, youth.
rwalker
<in_fla...@hotmail.com> wrote:
snip
>"Stone Soul picnic":
>http://www.whosdatedwho.com/topic/7114/stone-soul-picnic.htm
>P.S. I think the Four Tops originally did this song . . .
Laura Nyro wrote it, though I'm not sure who first recorded it.
R H Draney
Allmusic.com lists 90 recordings, some of them uncredited...those that do
mention an artist:
Aqua Velvet
Chet Atkins
Roy Ayers
The 5th Dimension
Johnny Johnson
Kombo
Judy Kuhn
Julie London
Laura Love
Jim Lowe
Ken Navarro
New York Voices
Laura Nyro
Railroad Project
Gerald Ross
Frank Sinatra
Jill Sobule
The Supremes
Swing Out Sister
Clare Teal
Stanley Turrentine
Village Callers
Well over half the entries are by The 5th Dimension, which is probably the
version most people are familiar with; the earliest recording was most likely by
the composer....r
Default User
Laura Nyro did, on the album "Eli and the Thirteenth Confession"[1].
For the most part she wasn't a song writer for hire. Usually other
artists covered her songs after she released them.
She was a tremendously talented woman. Her style had more elements of
jazz, blues, and soul than was typical of pop music at the time.
1. This is a terrific album. It also has "Sweet Blindess", a minor hit
for the Fifth Dimension, and "Eli's Coming", a top 10 for Three Dog
Night.
Brian
--
Day 248 of the "no grouchy usenet posts" project
