"Stoned Soul Picnic" is a 1968 song by

Laura Nyro Laura Nyro ( ; born Laura Nigro; October 18, 1947 – April 8, 1997) was an American songwriter and singer. She achieved critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the albums ''Eli and the Thirteenth Confession'' (1968) and ''Ne ...

. The best-known version of the song was recorded by

the 5th Dimension The 5th Dimension is an American vocal group. Their music encompasses sunshine pop, pop soul, and psychedelic soul. They were an important crossover music act of the 1960s and 1970s, although both praised and derided for their particular music ...

, and was the first single released from their album of the same title. It was the most successful single from that album, reaching No. 3 on the U.S. Pop chart and No. 2 on the ''Billboard''

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

. It became a

platinum record Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music Sound recording and reproduction, recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video ...

. The song was composed and recorded by Nyro for her album '' Eli and the Thirteenth Confession'', released in March 1968. According to

Marilyn McCoo Marilyn McCoo (born September 30, 1943) is an American singer, actress, and television presenter, who is best known for being the lead female vocalist in the group the 5th Dimension as well as hosting the 1980s music television show '' Solid Gol ...

, it was producer

Bones Howe Dayton Burr "Bones" Howe (born March 18, 1933) is an American record producer and recording engineer who scored a string of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, often of the sunshine pop genre, starting in 1965 with The Turtles (band), the Turtles cover o ...

who suggested that it would be a good song for the 5th Dimension to cover. The group would go on to record several more hits with Nyro songs, including " Sweet Blindness", " Wedding Bell Blues", " Blowin' Away", and " Save the Country". An instrumental version was recorded by jazz vibraphonist

Roy Ayers Roy Edward Ayers Jr. (September 10, 1940 – March 4, 2025) was an American vibraphonist, record producer, and composer. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several studio albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure ...

and became the title track to his 1968 album. The word ''surry'', used frequently in the lyric (e.g. "Surry down to a stoned soul picnic"), is a

neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...

by Nyro; its meaning is unclear. When producer Charlie Calello asked what the word meant, Nyro told him, "Oh, it's just a nice word." Possible origins include: * ''

slurry A slurry is a mixture of denser solids suspended in liquid, usually water. The most common use of slurry is as a means of transporting solids or separating minerals, the liquid being a carrier that is pumped on a device such as a centrifugal pu ...

'' as in mining, a wash of sediment that flows down from an excavation site. * contraction of ''let's hurry''. * ''

surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

''. a type of horse-drawn carriage popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as popularized in the musical ''

Oklahoma! ''Oklahoma!'' is the first musical theater, musical written by the duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs's 1931 play, ''Green Grow the Lilacs (play), Green Grow the Lilacs''. Set in farm country outside the town of ...

'' with the song "Surrey with the fringe on top"; a way of getting to the picnic.

Personnel

* Billy Davis Jr. * Florence LaRue *

* Lamonte McLemore * Ron Townson Additional personnel * Mike Deasy – electric guitar *

Joe Osborn Joe Osborn (August 28, 1937 – December 14, 2018Hal Blaine Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. ...

– drums, percussion * Larry Bunker – percussion *

Larry Knechtel Lawrence William Knechtel (August 4, 1940 – August 20, 2009) was an American keyboard player and bassist who was a member of the Wrecking Crew, a collection of Los Angeles–based session musicians who worked with such renowned artists as Sim ...

– piano * Jimmy Rowles – organ *The Sid Sharp Strings – string section *The Bill Holman Brass – horn section

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Sampling and covers

"Stoned Soul Picnic" has been covered by: *

Julie London Julie London (born Julie Peck; September 26, 1926 – October 18, 2000) was an American singer and actress whose career spanned more than 40 years. A torch song, torch singer noted for her contralto voice, London recorded over thirty album ...

on '' Yummy, Yummy, Yummy'', 1969 * British pop group Swing Out Sister on '' Shapes and Patterns'', 1997 * Afro-Celtic artist Laura Love on ''Fourteen Days'', 2000 * Jill Sobule as a single, 2001 * British

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

singer Claire Teal on '' Don't Talk'', 2004 * the New York Voices on ''A Day Like This'', 2007 *

Billy Childs William Edward Childs (born March 8, 1957) is an American composer, jazz pianist, arranger and conductor from Los Angeles, California, United States. Early life When he was 16, Childs attended the Community School of the Performing Arts sponsored ...

on '' Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro'', sung by Ledisi, 2014 It has also been sampled by: *

Crystal Waters Crystal Waters (born November 19, 1961) is an American house music, house and dance music singer and songwriter, best known for her 1990s dance hits "Gypsy Woman (Crystal Waters song), Gypsy Woman", "100% Pure Love", and 2007's "Destination Cal ...

in " Ghetto Day" on ''Storyteller'', 1994 * Australian electronic duo

Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stree ...

in "Edible French Chic" on The Polyester Embassy, 2000 * The Go! Team in "Everyone's a V.I.P. to Someone" on their debut album '' Thunder, Lightning, Strike'', 2004 Chicano Batman has a song with the same title on their 2014 album ''Cycles Of Existential Rhyme''.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1968 singles Laura Nyro songs The 5th Dimension songs Songs written by Laura Nyro Psychedelic soul songs 1968 songs Song recordings produced by Bones Howe