The Surrey With the Fringe On Top

From the 1943 musical “Oklahoma”.
Words by Oscar Hammerstein II
Music by Richard Rodgers


The sheet music:


Accompaniment:


Lyrics

When I take you out, tonight, with me
Honey, here’s the way it’s goin’ to be
You will set behind a team of snow white horses
In the slickest gig you 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 and see how it flutters
When I drive them high steppin’ strutters
Nosey pokes ‘ll peek thru their shutters
And their eyes will pop
The wheels are yeller, the upholstery’s brown
The dashboard’s genuine leather
With isinglass curtains y’ can roll right down
In case there’s a change in the weather
Two bright side light’s winkin’ and blinkin’
Ain’t no finer rig I’m a-thinkin’
You c’n keep your rig if you’re thinkin’
‘At I’d keer to swap
Fer that shiny little surrey
With the fringe on the top

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 ‘ll 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 wisht y’d go on forever?
Don’t you wisht y’d go on forever?
Don’t you wisht y’d go on forever
And ud never stop
In that shiny little surrey
With the fringe on the top

I can see the stars gettin’ blurry
When we drive back home in the surrey
Drivin’ slowly home in the surrey
With the fringe on top
I can feel the day gettin’ older
Feel a sleepy head on my shoulder
Noddin’, droopin’ close to my shoulder
‘Til it falls kerplop
The sun is swimmin’ on the rim of a 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 medder
Hush, you bird, my baby’s a sleepin’
Maybe got dream worth a keepin’
Whoa! you team, and jist keep a creepin’
At a slow clip clop
Don’t you hurry with the surrey
With the fringe on the top


Sung here by Fred Feild: