Ringo Starr's second and last composition for The Beatles, "Octopus's Garden" is seemingly an intentional cousin of the hit Ringo-led single "Yellow Submarine." This family-friendly, joyful, and willfully silly number appeared on 1969's "Abbey Road," the last album the group would record together (though the previously-recorded "Let It Be" would effectively be the Fab Four's swan song in 1970). But while the song's "Little Mermaid"-esque lyrics of happiness and freedom under the sea paint a utopian vision, the fact is that "Octopus's Garden" was composed during a period of great turmoil.
Most accounts of The Beatles break-up focus on the respective private and public walkouts from the group by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. But in truth, Starr was the first Beatle to quit the band, storming out of the "The Beatles" sessions as his anger at an increasingly controlling McCartney — who had openly insulted Ringo's drumming — hit an all-time high (via "Ringo Starr: Straight Man or Joker?").
Per Ian MacDonald, Ringo fled London entirely for several weeks, and basked in the sun of the Italian island of Sardinia, where, relaxing by the ocean, he became deeply interested in the seabed behavior of sea creatures, and, suggests MacDonald, may have envied them for their seemingly carefree lifestyles. On his return to the band at Abbey Road studios — where he found his drum kit bedecked with flowers as a gift from his apologetic bandmates (via The Current) — Ringo introduced the song to his fellow Beatles, and worked with George Harrison to get it into shape for recording.
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