Octopus's Garden

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Octopus's Garden is a song off The Beatles' 1969 album, Abbey Road. It was written by Ringo Starr, with help from George Harrison.

Contents

Writing

The idea for the song came when Ringo had temporarily left The Beatles in August 1968. He took his family on a boating holiday in Sardinia. Ringo said, "I wrote Octopus's Garden in Sardinia. Peter Sellers had lent us his yacht and we went out for the day... I stayed out on deck with [the captain] and we talked about octopuses. He told me that they hang out in their caves and they go around the seabed finding shiny stones and tin cans and bottles to put in front of their cave like a garden. I thought this was fabulous, because at the time I just wanted to be under the sea too. A couple of tokes later with the guitar - and we had Octopus's Garden!" It was worked on with George during the Get Back sessions in January 1969. In 1969, George commented, "Octopus's Garden is Ringo's song. It's only the second song Ringo wrote, and it's lovely. Ringo gets bored playing the drums, and at home he plays a bit of piano, but he only knows about three chords. He knows about the same on guitar. I think it's a really great song, because on the surface, it just like a daft kids' song, but the lyrics are great. For me, you know, I find very deep meaning in the lyrics, which Ringo probably doesn't see, but all the thing like 'resting our head on the sea bed' and 'We'll be warm beneath the storm' which is really great, you know. Because it's like this level is a storm, and if you get sort of deep in your consciousness, it's very peaceful. So Ringo's writing his cosmic songs without noticing."

Recording

This song was considered to be recorded for the album Let It Be, but was not properly recorded until the album Abbey Road. 32 Takes of the basic track were recorded on April 26. It featured Starr on drums and guide vocals, McCartney on bass, and Harrison and Lennon on guitars. Take 2 was later included on Anthology 3. On April 29, Ringo overdubbed his lead vocals. These overdubs would not be used. Work on the track continued on July 17, when a new bass part and backing vocals were overdubbed. Many sound effects were also overdubbed, including Starr blowing bubbles into a glass of water. Starr's used lead vocals were recorded the next day, completing work on the song.

LOVE Version

A mix of this song was included on the 2006 album Love. The most obvious songs mixed into this one are a tuned-down version of Good Night during the mix's intro and the intro of Sun King at the end of the mix. Sound effects from and short musical clips from the songs Tomorrow Never Knows, All Together Now, Lovely Rita, The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill, Polythene Pam, Revolution 9, and Helter Skelter.

Available Versions

Available On

Personnel

The Beatles

Production

Cover Versions

  • Oasis

Source

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