"The Vly be on the Turmut" (i.e., "The Fly Is on the Turnip") is the unofficial song of the English county of

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, sung in the Wiltshire dialect. The song is one of the

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

marching song A march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in Wagner's ...

s of the

Wiltshire Regiment The Wiltshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot and the 99th Duke of Edinburgh's (Lanarkshire) Regiment of Foot. The ...

. According to a long-established

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...

tradition, the city's

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

sings the song from the balcony of the White Hart Hotel in St John's Street after winning each Parliamentary election.The Vly be on the Turmut
at wiltshire.gov.uk, accessed 22 October 2011 The musical score is given in Tom Gibson's ''The Wiltshire Regiment'' and in

Granville Bantock Sir Granville Ransome Bantock (7 August 186816 October 1946) was a British composer of classical music. Biography Granville Ransome Bantock was born in London. His father was an eminent Scottish surgeon.Hadden, J. Cuthbert, 1913, ''Modern Music ...

's ''100 Songs of England for High Voice''. The song also appears with variations in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primaril ...

and

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...

. The BBC's Music Library contains seven editions of the versions from the three counties.'Turmut-hoeing' in ''BBC Music Library Song catalogue'', vol. IV, M-Z (British Broadcasting Corporation, 1966), p. 1102

Lyrics

T'were on a jolly zummer's day, the twenty-vust o' May,
John Scruggins took his turmut 'oe, wi' this 'e trudged away,
Now some volkes they loike haymakin', and some they vancies mowin'
But of all the jobs as Oi loike best, gi'e Oi the turmut 'oein'. The vly, the vly,
The vly be on the turmut,
'Tis all me eye,
For Oi to try,
To keep vlies off them turmuts. The vust place as Oi went to wurk; it were wi' Varmer Gower,
Who vowed and swore as 'ow Oi were a vust class turmut 'oer;
The second place Oi went to wurk, they paid Oi by the job,
If Oi'd a-knowed a little more, Oi'd sooner bin in quod. The vly, the vly,
The vly be on the turmut,
'Tis all me eye,
For Oi to try,
To keep vlies off them turmuts. The last place as Oi went to wurk, they zent ver Oi a-mowin',
Oi zent wurd back, Oi'd zunner get the zack, than gi'e up turmut 'oein'.
Now all you jolly varmer chaps, what boides at 'ome zo warm,
Oi'll now conclude my ditty wi'e a-wishin' you no 'arm. The vly, the vly,
The vly be on the turmut,
'Tis all me eye,
For Oi to try,
To keep vlies off them turmuts.

''The Turmit Hower''

A version entitled "The Turmut Hower" was printed in 1918 and opens with the lines

Notes

External links

The Vly be on the Turmut
sung by John Glen MP, 7 May 2010, at youtube.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Vly Politics of Salisbury History of Wiltshire Traditional ballads Culture in Wiltshire