"The Surrey with the Fringe on Top" is a song featured in the 1955 film Oklahoma! with music composed by Richard Rodgers and lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein II. When the confident young cowboy Curly McLain (Gordon MacRae) comes calling on Laurey Williams (Shirley Jones), he describes the fancy surrey he has arranged to take her to the social in this song.
Lyrics[]
Curly:
When I take you out tonight with me
Honey, here's the way it's gonna be
You will set behind a team of snow-white horses
In the slickest gig you'll ever see
Chicks and ducks and geese better scurry
When I take you out in the surrey
When I take you out in the surrey
With the fringe on top
Watch that fringe an' see how it flutters
When I drive them high-steppin' stutters
Nosy pokes'll peek through their shutters
And their eyes will pop!
The wheels are yellow, the upholstery's brown
The dashboard's genuine leather
With isinglass curtains you can roll right down
In case there's a change in the weather
Two bright sidelights winkin' and blinkin'
Ain't no finer rig I'm a thinkin'
You can keep yer rig if yer thinkin' that I'd care to swap
Fer that shiny little surrey with the fringe on the top
Aunt Eller:
Would you say the fringe was made of silk?
Curly:
Wouldn't have no other kind but silk!
Laurey:
Has it really got a team of snow-white horses?
Curly:
One's like snow, the other's more like milk
All the world'll fly in a flurry
When I take you out in the surrey
When I take you out in the surrey
With the fringe on top
When we hit that road, hell-for-leather
Cats and dogs will dance in the heather
Birds and frogs'll sing all together
And the toads will hop!
The wind'll whistle as we rattle along
The cows'll moo in the clover
The river will ripple out a whispered song
And whisper it over and over
Don't you wish you'd go on forever?
Don't you wish you'd go on forever?
Don't you wish you'd go on forever?
And you'd never stop?
In that shiny little surrey
With the fringe on the top
I can see the stars gittin' blurry
When we ride back home in the surrey
Ridin' slowly home in the surrey
With the fringe on top
I can feel the day gettin' older
Feel a sleepy head near my shoulder
Noddin', droopin', close to my shoulder
'Til it falls—kerplop
The sun is swimmin' on the rim of the hill
The moon is takin' a header
And jist as I'm thinkin' all the earth is still
A lark'll wake up in the meader
Hush, you bird, my baby's a sleepin'
Maybe got a dream worth a keepin'
Whoa, you team, an' jist keep a creepin'
At a slow clip clop
Don't you hurry little surrey
With the fringe on the top