Laura Nyro, songwriter, singer, and pianist, whose songs "Wedding Bell Blues", "Stoned Soul Picnic", "And When I Die", "Eli's Comin'" were hits for others, was born on Oct. 18, 1947 (d. 1997).

"Stoned Soul Picnic" (Laura Nyro) (1968)

youtube.com/watch?v=N1CfSgsvqJ

@heatherdale Yes. And I didn't really know her versions well until after she died.

@nealfig
I just listened to her version of Stoned Soul Picnic
The lyrics are clearer but they still don’t make sense to me … is it hippy code for something 😂

@heatherdale It does have a nice sound (the song's interesting melody and her playing and singing). Regarding the lyrics, to me it's about having a good time with friends with music and wine in a relaxing place (a garden, park or the country).

I think she invented the word "surry". Wikipedia:
When asked by producer Charlie Calello what the word meant, Nyro told him, "Oh, it's just a nice word." One possible meaning is that surry is a shortening of "let's hurry."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoned_S

@nealfig
When I was a kid I just said “hurry down” because that made sense
I also thought it was “stone cold picnic” until I learned to read
But “stoned soul” also made no sense to me (for awhile … until I got stoned) 😂

Follow

@heatherdale She might have meant it figuratively, a "stoned soul" being a soul intoxicated with the life, (nature, wine, friends). Or not. 🙂

Sign in to participate in the conversation

CounterSocial is the first Social Network Platform to take a zero-tolerance stance to hostile nations, bot accounts and trolls who are weaponizing OUR social media platforms and freedoms to engage in influence operations against us. And we're here to counter it.