Since the January rehearsals of the song Octopus’s Garden didn't solidify it enough for inclusion in the "Let It Be" project, and because Ringo did not have a vocal contribution for that album as of yet, The Beatles decided to bring it to EMI Studios to work it out and record it properly. A decision hadn't been made yet to record one final album, which became the "Abbey Road" LP, so the group was busying itself recording more songs to flesh out the January sessions into what they felt would be a suitable "Let It Be" album. This is where they intended "Octopus's Garden," as well as several other songs they had been recording in the spring of 1969, to fit in the new list of song tracks.
The Beatles entered EMI Studio Two on April 26th, 1969 at around 4:30 pm with the intention of working on Ringo's song. George Martin was just sporadically present during these spring Beatles sessions, the documentation for this day indicating “The Beatles” as the producer of this session. Chris Thomas, who had been producing Beatles sessions since the “White Album” days, does distinctly remember being present on this day in the control room, so he undoubtedly contributed to the proceedings.
Engineer Jeff Jarratt, who was relatively new in working with the band at this time, recalls the circumstances of working with them. In the book “The Beatles Recording Sessions” he states: “I was really thrown in at the deep end. George Martin informed me that he wouldn't be available. I can't remember word for word what he said to me, but it was something like, 'There will be one Beatle there, fine. Two Beatles, great. Three Beatles, fantastic. But the minute the four of them are there that is when the inexplicable charismatic thing happens, the special magic no one has been able to explain. It will be very friendly between you and them but you'll be aware of this inexplicable presence.' Sure enough, that's exactly the way it happened. I've never felt it in any other circumstances. It was the special chemistry of the four of them which nobody since has ever had.”
After Paul put in an attempt to overdub lead vocals onto the recently recorded rhythm track of his song “Oh! Darling,” all four Beatles worked at perfecting the arrangement of “Octopus's Garden.” When they felt confident enough to roll the tapes, they recorded 32 takes of the rhythm track. The instrumentation consisted of George on Fender Stratocaster played through a Leslie speaker, John on his Epiphone Casino, Paul on his Rickenbacker bass, and Ringo on drums while singing a guide vocal.
Mark Lewisohn, who's had the privilege of listening to the entire original tape as research for his book “The Beatles Recording Sessions,” describes this as “a fun and creative session,” all four Beatles cooperative and on their best behavior. 'Take two,' which is included in the 1996 compilation album “Anthology 3,” shows that they had the arrangement nearly perfected at this stage, George even having his intricate guitar introduction and conclusion pretty much down to a tee. Ringo keeps repeating the first verse vocally knowing this element would be recorded as an overdub later, which meant that the accented “can't be found” in the second verse hadn't been worked out as of this early take. At the end of 'take eight,' which didn't turn out so good, Ringo sarcastically states “Well, that was superb!,” this remark also included on “Anthology 3.”
By 'take 32,' they had perfected the rhythm track for the song that would be used on the finished recording, interjecting the “can't be found” accents as a nice touch to the arrangement. It was 4:15 am the following day by this point, this nearly being a 24-hour session, and they decided to finally call it a day.
On April 29th, 1969, The Beatles resumed work on the song in EMI Studio Three. They first all congregated in the control room at 2:30 pm for a four-hour playback of recently recorded songs that they were considering for inclusion on the “Let It Be” album, this listening session ending around 6:30 pm. Then, after an hour break, they went out onto the studio floor at 7:30 pm, the sole purpose being the overdubbing of Ringo's lead vocals onto "Octopus's Garden." They were happy with the results and, therefore, took to work making a stereo mix of the song, thinking it to be complete and also ready for the soon-to-be-released “Let It Be” album. Producer Chris Thomas and engineers Jeff Jarratt and Nick Webb made four attempts at creating this stereo mix, undoubtedly the fourth being deemed the best. At 1 am the following morning, this session was complete.
Then, a little over a month later, a decision was made to put together one last Beatles album, leaving the January 1969 sessions for the time being and concentrating on what they had been recording since for inclusion on what eventually became the “Abbey Road” album. Newer songs would also be started but, in the process, they decided to spruce up production of the songs they had been recording in the spring, now with George Martin at the helm. In the spirit of “Yellow Submarine,” and because of George Martin's expertise at recording comedy records for the likes of Peter Sellers and The Goons, various sound effects were decided upon for Ringo's song.
The Beatles arrived in EMI Studio Two on July 17th, 1969 at 6:30 pm to focus on whatever was needed to complete “Octopus's Garden.” Still feeling that Ringo's lead vocal overdub was suitable for the finished product, Paul and George (and possibly Ringo) added backing harmonies sung in a high pitch and then Paul added a piano track before the sound effects overdubs began. John stated the following in a 1969 interview about these overdubs: “During the time I was away, they laid a few harmony tracks on some of the harmony bits, so Ringo is doing a few harmony bits.” This would seem to indicate that, even though John had reunited with The Beatles after his automobile accident by this time, he may not have been present on this day.
Engineer Geoff Emerick, in his book “Here, There And Everywhere,” recalls the events of this day. “We had great fun doing overdubs on 'Octopus's Garden.' Paul and George were both in high spirits on the days we were working on it, and together they chipped in, putting as much effort into it as if it were one of their own songs. Ringo...even got the inspiration – recycled from 'Yellow Submarine' – to blow bubbles into a close-miked glass of water.” Concerning this overdub, technical engineer Alan Brown adds: “That was miked very closely to capture all the little bubbles and sounds.”
Emerick continues: “As the songwriter, Ringo acted as the de facto producer for the track, and in one of our rare conversations, he asked me if I could make the vocals in the middle section sound as if they were being sung underwater. It was one the few times during the 'Abbey Road' sessions that I was challenged to come up with a new kind of sound, and I jumped at the opportunity. After some experimentation, I discovered that feeding the vocals into a compressor and triggering it from a pulsing tone (which I derived from George Harrison's Moog Synthesizer) imparted a distinctive wobbly sound, almost like gargling. It was weird, almost like something out of a cheesy science-fiction movie, but Ringo loved the result.” By 11:15 that evening, this fun session finally came to a close.
The next day, July 18th, 1969, a decision was made to rerecord Ringo's lead vocal on the song. Paul and Ringo arrived sometime after 2:30 pm at EMI Studio Three on this day for this purpose, Paul first putting in yet another attempt at nailing down his lead vocals for “Oh! Darling.” Paul wasn't happy with his vocal work on this day, but Ringo proceeded to capture the perfect vocal performance for his song shortly thereafter, even double-tracking it in spots, something he hadn't done on a lead vocal since "Matchbox." “For once, Ringo sang the lead vocal with confidence,” Geoff Emerick asserts. Ringo also overdubbed what Mark Lewisohn describes in his “Recording Sessions” book as “sundry percussion” onto the song, which appears to be light accents from his drum kit. By 8 pm, this recording session was complete, which also completes the recording of “Octopus's Garden.”
This is not to say that they all went home for the day at this point. They then immediately proceeded into the control room of EMI Studio Two to create a releasable mix of the song. George Martin and engineers Phil McDonald and Alan Parsons first worked at creating a mono mix, which was strange since albums were only released in stereo by this time. Nonetheless, they made seven attempts at a mono mix and then five attempts (numbered 10 through 14) at a stereo mix, the final mix being the one used on the released album.
Sometime in 1996, George Martin and Geoff Emerick returned to the master tapes of the original rhythm track The Beatles made on April 26th, 1969 in order to create a mix of 'take two' for inclusion on the compilation album “Anthology 3.” The entire take was included on this release with Ringo's sarcastic comment “Well, that was superb!” from the end of 'take eight' tacked on at the end. The listener can hear how fully formed the arrangement was at this early stage, lead guitar work and all, with only new lead vocals and minimal overdubs being added later to get it to its complete state.
Then, sometime between 2004 and 2006, George Martin and his son Giles Martin went back to the final master tape, as well as master tapes from various other songs, to create a unique mash-up version of “Octopus's Garden” for inclusion in the production of the Cirque du Soleil show “Beatles Love.” This new stereo mix, which was also featured on the resulting 2006 “Love” album, masterfully mixes elements of “Yellow Submarine,” “Good Night,” “Lovely Rita,” “Helter Skelter” and “Sun King” to create a quite innovative and enjoyable track.
Two live recordings were made by Ringo and his then current band, The Roundheads, which saw release. The first live recording was done on May 13th, 1998 at Sony Studios in New York City in an intimate setting for broadcast on the popular VH1 cable show “Storytellers.” Ringo told a charming story of how “Octopus's Garden” was written and then, with his band that included both Mark Hudson and Joe Walsh on guitar, ran through their rendition on the song in front of a small audience. The second live recording of the song, also by Ringo and The Roundheads, was on June 24th, 2005, at the Genesse Theatre in Waukegan, Illinois. This version was eventually released on the album “Ringo Starr: Live At Soundstage.”
Song Structure and Style
The structure chosen for "Octopus's Garden" couldn't be any simpler, namely, 'verse/ verse/ solo/ verse' (or aaba) with a somewhat intricate introduction that was, unmistakably, concocted by George Harrison since his participation is integral to the arrangement.
The instrumental introduction is four measures in length and primarily features George's lead guitar work. George starts out the song with solo lead guitar, joined by Ringo, Paul and John accenting two beats in the first measure, the second of these beats being the fourth beat of this measure. George then plays a somewhat similar melody line in the second measure which Ringo, Paul and John joins in on at the end of the third measure and then continues with throughout the end of the introduction as well as to the end of the song. George continues an interesting lead guitar passage for the remainder of this section while Ringo plays a simple 4/4 drum beat focusing on the closed hi-hat, Paul plays a simple bass pattern and John reprises his “Travis picking” style as he leaned in India in 1968, this also being heard in “Dear Prudence” and “Julia,” among other songs.
The first verse comes next, which is sixteen-measures long as all of the verses are. Ringo sings single-tracked lead vocals and plays a simple 4/4 pattern on the drums for the first four measures while John continues his “Travis picking” in these same measures throughout the chord changes. Paul plays simple bass patterns while George doesn't appear at all during these first eight measures.
Measures nine through twelve, however, feature Ringo singing double-tracked lead vocals while delivering only “sundry” percussion on his drum kit while Paul kicks in on his overdubbed piano which takes center stage. John strums accented chords in measures ten and twelve along with Paul and Ringo on their instruments, allowing Ringo's vocal message to shine through with primary importance. He was here inviting his “friends to come and see an octopus's garden,” these friends no doubt being his then-former band members, remembering here that Ringo had quit The Beatles during the writing of this song.
After a simple drum fill from Ringo, the band fills out the remaining measures of the first verse as before but with some additional elements. Paul and George's harmony vocals kick in here for the first time, George adds a quaint lead guitar passage in measure sixteen, and Paul continues his piano playing for the rest of the verse.
The second verse then commences which is generally similar to the first. Background harmony from Paul and George is heard throughout, singing “ooh” in measures one through three and five through seven, and singing “aah” in measures four and five and then eight and nine. George thinks to add some lead guitar passages in measures five through seven in the open vocal spaces. Measures nine through sixteen are primarily identical to the first verse, although George does attempt a guitar line after the lyric “I'd like to be” in the thirteenth measure, it being embarrassingly aborted after one pulled note. This verse ends with one final high note on Paul's piano, a simple drum fill from Ringo, and the beginning of George's guitar solo for the next section.
An eight-measure solo section comes next, which changes keys from E major to A major for emotional impact. George takes center stage here with his intricate lead guitar work while Ringo stays away from any cymbals and focuses on his toms, adding a slight drum fill in measures four and eight. John continues his “Travis picking” and Paul plods away appropriately on bass while Paul, George and Ringo sing background vocals aided by an effect created by George's Moog synthesizer to create an underwater simulation. Ringo humorously blows bubbled into a glass of water sporadically throughout this section of the song, primarily focusing on the end of each even numbered measure.
The fourth verse comes next, which this time includes the conclusion of the song and, thereby, is twenty measures long. The instrumentation is primarily identical to the second verse although the backing vocals actually touch on repeating the lyrics Ringo had just sung, such as “lies beneath the ocean waves” in measures four and five and “happy and they're safe” in measures eight and nine. George again lays low in the arrangement until measure thirteen and beyond, echoing the lead vocals with appropriate phrases. Measures fifteen and sixteen are repeated three times for emphasis this time around, with drum fills added in measures sixteen and eighteen along with suitable lead guitar fills from George. Measure twenty becomes a 'Beatles break,' all instruments coming to a halt except for George's final lead guitar passage. The final moments of the twentieth measure bring in two accents from John, Paul and Ringo on their instruments, bringing the song to a campy but appropriate close.
Ringo's lyrics may not be as “cosmic” as George interpreted them to be, but they do reveal touches of the drummer's disenchantment with being a Beatle and wanting to escape it all. While his old friends may be invited to “come and see” where he's going to be residing “under the sea,” he revels at the thought of “no one there to tell us what to do,” such as Paul being anal about how Ringo should play the drums. He also would be experiencing the “joy” of being “happy” and “safe” in this “hideaway.”
All Beatles should be commended for their participation on this track. They all, George Martin included, thought enough of the song to put their all into it, instrumentally and production-wise, to reveal Ringo as being more than capable of writing a song worthy of attention, even though his audience may very well be in the single digits age-wise this time around.
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