When I take you out, tonight, with me,
honey, here's the way it's gonna be.
You will set behind a team o' snow white horses,
in the slickest gig ya eva' see!
Chicks 'n' ducks 'n' geese better scurry,
when I take ya out in the surrey,
when I take ya out in the surrey with the fringe on top!
Watch that fringe 'n' 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 ginu-ine leather,
with isinglass curtains ya can roll right down,
in case there's a change in the weather.
Two bright sidelight'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!
[Aunt Eller] Would you say the fringe was made o' silk?
[Curly] Hee! 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 others more like milk.
All the world'll fly in a flurry,
when I take you out in the surrey,
when I take ya out in the surrey with the fringe on top!
When we hit that road, hell fer 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 wishty'd go on forever?
Don't you wishty'd go on forever?
Don't you wishty'd go on forever?
and 'ould never stop, in that shiny, little surrey with the fringe on the top!
[Aunt Eller] You'd sure feel like a queen settin' up in that carriage.
[Curly] Only she talked to me so mean a while back, Aunt Eller, and I'm a good mind not to take her.
[Laurey] Who said I was goin'?!
[Curly] Well I ain't asked ya!
[Laurey] Where'd you git such a rig at? Why I'll bet he's went and hired a rig goin' to Claremore, thinkin' I'd go with him!
[Curly] I did not hire it! I made the whole thing up out o' my head. Ha ha ha ha!!
[Laurey] What?! You made it up?!
[Curly] Dashboard and all. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!
[Laurey] Git off the place, you!
[Curly] Ooh, [?that hurt].
[Laurey] Aunt Eller, make him get hisself outta here! Tellin' me lies.
[Curly] Now hold on. Makin' up a few perties ain't agin' no law I know of. 'Sides, don't-choo wish there was such a rig though? Then you could go to the play pau'ty and do a hoedown and til mornin' if you's a mind to. Then when you was all wore out, why, I'd just lift ya onto the surrey, jump up alongside ya, and we'd just point the horses home. I can just picture the whole thin'.
I c'n 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 c'n feel the day gettin' older,
feel a sleepy head near my shoulder,
noddin', droopin' close to my shoulder, till 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 a 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!