Ringo Starr wrote the song “Octopus's Garden” in 1969.
The song was written for The Beatles’ album Abbey Road, released in September 1969. Starr wrote it during the band’s later recording period and sang the lead vocal, making it one of his most recognizable Beatles compositions.
The idea came partly from a story about octopuses that Starr heard while on a boat holiday with actor Peter Sellers. A ship’s captain explained that octopuses gather stones and other objects to build gardens on the seabed. Starr turned that image into a gentle fantasy about living beneath the sea.
George Harrison helped Starr develop the music and arrangement, although the song was credited to Starr’s real name, Richard Starkey. A common mix-up is confusing the year Starr wrote or recorded the song with the year it appeared on Abbey Road: both belong to 1969, while the single was released in 1970.