Octopus's Garden

Richard Starkey
© Startling Music Ltd.

So I went on holiday to Sardinia and just by chance some guy lent us his boat. It was great in those days, they lent you anything. And we were on the boat with the kids and I said to the captain, "I'd like some fish and chips for lunch." ha ha. And he said, "Oh, okay." In Sardinian of course. And so we went swimming, doing what we do and we came back and he said, "Well, your dinner is ready."
And we went and sat around the table and we recognized the chips, the french fries, but we didn't recognize the other stuff and I said, "Hey! What's this, what's this fish?"
"Oh, that's octopus."
"Uh, we don't eat octopus! Yack! We're from Liverpool, you know what I mean, we don't eat octopus!"

Anyway, through the course of that afternoon I was just chatting with the guy and he said "Ooh, do you know..." I'm trying to do Peter Sellers, "Ooh, do you know about octopus's "Octopus!" and....ha ha ha...
And he said, "Do you know they live they live, you know, on the bottom in caves and they go around the ocean bed and they pick up shiny things and they put them in fron of their caves."

Well, it just blew me away, actually, and you know, in those days I had one of those herbal cigarettes which bent my head, ha, and I just thought this was so beauitiful that I wrote this song called "Octopus's Garden"
And it goes like this...

I'd like to be
under the sea
In an octopus' garden in the shade
He'd let us in,
knows where we've been
In his octopus' garden in the shade

I'd ask my friends
to come and see
An octopus' garden with me
I'd like to be
under the sea
In an octopus' garden in the shade.

We would be warm (ooh)
below the storm (ooh)
In our little hideaway beneath the waves (aah)
Resting our head (ooh)
on the sea bed (ooh)
In an octopus' garden near a cave. (aah)

We would sing and dance around
because we know we can't be found
I'd like to be
under the sea
In an octopus' garden in the shade

Well!

Ah-ah-ah,
Ah-ah-ah,
Ah-ah-ah,
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah,
Ah-ah-ah-ah.

We would shout (aah)
and swim about (ooh)
The coral that lies beneath the waves
(Lies beneath the ocean waves)
Oh what joy (aah)
for every girl and boy (ooh)
Knowing they're happy and they're safe
(Happy and they're safe)

We would be so happy you and me
No one there to tell us what to do

I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus' garden with you,
In an octopus' garden with you,
In an octopus' garden with you.