In 1968, amid tensions during The Beatles’ White Album sessions, Ringo Starr temporarily left the band and travelled to Sardinia with his family. While staying aboard a yacht borrowed from actor Peter Sellers, an unexpected meal of octopus and chips, alongside the captain’s story about octopuses creating underwater “gardens”, inspired Starr to write ‘Octopus’s Garden’.

The song became Starr’s second Beatles songwriting credit, with help from George Harrison, and later closed Abbey Road. The episode also reflected the band’s strained but affectionate relationships: when Starr returned to the studio, Harrison had decorated his drum kit with flowers, while the song itself emerged away from recording pressures and studio conflict.