Turbot
The Turbot Song - Turboatin’
as written in the Songs by Onyx Ocean minizine
as performed:
Hurt us and it hurts you too
Safe until they come for you
Hurt us and it hurts you too
Safe until they come for you
Oh to be like the flatfish
and go unnoticed, unseen
no policing where you piss
no asking what’s in your jeans
I mean when is the last time
you tried to look like the floor?
you think there is no fish here
you can’t see me anymore
Hurt us and it hurts you too
Safe until they come for you
Hurt us and it hurts you too
Safe until they come for you
You shouldn’t wanna eat me
My inside is too heavy
Plastic survives my last bone
Hate’s waste toxic to our home
Hurt us and it hurts you too
Safe until they come for you
Hurt us and it hurts you too
Safe until they come for you
Please don’t kill us anymore
We’re already on the floor
Hurt us and it hurts you too
Safe until they come for you
Hurt us and it hurts you too
Safe until they come for you
Hurt us and it hurts you too
Safe until they came for you
Song Analysis/Description
I wrote this song when the new, transphobic EHRC guidance came out alongside the transphobic Supreme Court decision about what makes a woman a woman. I took a very non trans/queer fish and ended up writing this very trans/queer song that came from the line “I mean, when’s the last time you tried to look like the floor?” taken from a conversation I was having with Marine Biologist River Perry about how I could get excited about this fish. I tried to draw attention to plastic pollution as well as the heavy metal in the fish whilst also referencing transphobia and other general queerphobia, and referencing the way that people who are mentally ill and traumatised are inclined to push others away (“you shouldn’t wanna eat me, my inside is too heavy”). The song has evolved into being performed differently to how it was originally written. The chorus riffs off of a bit in a song called Serenity by a musician friend of mine based in Plymouth called CROW - “hurt us and it hurts you too” is a direct reference to CROW’s lyric “works if you work it too” and the whole song developed playing off of that riff. The name Turboatin’ is a bit of a reference to Star Trekkin’, but also references me vocally stimming with the name of the fish during the construction of the puppet.
Lyrics, bass, and arrangements by Onyx Ocean
Recorded at Fishcup Studios
Political Cartoons Description
I hardly know which came first, the lyrics to the song or the political cartoons. They were all produced around the same time. I was so angry at the EHRC guidance and the Supreme Court, I needed to channel that energy somewhere. The final political cartoon includes a reference to how I have taken a very non trans fish and ended up writing a very trans song including the fish, and references Alex Jones saying “they turned the freaking frogs gay,”- making fun of the way that Conservatives will inevitably be annoyed at how I have gotten political with my fish, and the things they are likely to say when viewing my work.
Turbot Puppet and Music Video Description
I’d made the song and was working on political cartoons and said to my partners, “do you think we could make a giant Turbot puppet and make a music video to my Turbot song?” and they said that they thought we could, so we got to sketching some ideas for how the puppet would move like a Turbot, gathered materials, and began to papier-mache a Turbot
Created at Fishcup Studios
Artist: Onyx Ocean and Fishcup Studios
Onyx Ocean:
Instagram
Fish Profile
Turbot - Scophthalmus maximus
Conservation status
Assessed as Least Concern by the IUCN.
The MCS gives Turbot mixed rating with 2 Best Choice fishing areas and 4 Needs Improvement areas.
The Best Choice categories include farmed fish areas in Europe and Spain where farm feed is assessed and approved by GLOBALG.A.P. certification; and wild fish areas in the North Sea by otter trawls where the ‘spawning stock biomass of turbot is in a healthy state’ and is ‘harvested sustainably’.
Areas where improvements are needed are where bottom trawl (beam) is used. ‘Beam trawls have significant impacts on the seabed, including damage to benthic communities and vulnerable marine habitats. They can also have high bycatch, potentially of vulnerable species’. (MCS)
The Cornwall Wildlife Trust reports ‘Turbot is highly prized and the majority is caught by gill nets set on the seabed (tangle or trammel nets) and trawls. Management is poor as catches are not limited by quota, and better science is needed to assess the sustainability of this species.’