…. complete with never-before-heard rendition of the song

Illustrated by artist of bestselling series Aliens In Underpants
Published on 24 October in hardback with CD
Includes reading by Starr and previously unplayed recording of Octopus’s Garden

It is one of those popular Beatles songs that appeals across generations. Octopus’s Garden, like Maxwell’s Silver Hammer or Yellow Submarine, have the sort of merry tunes and simple lyrics that please music lovers from nursery to nursing home and all those in between.

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When I play the song, from the 1969 Abbey Road album, to my three-year-old son Leo, the story-like lyrics captivate him.

And now those lyrics, conjured up by Ringo Starr in 1968 while holidaying in Sardinia on Peter Sellers’ yacht, have been turned into the words of a children’s book.

Colourful creation: Ringo Starr has teamed up with Ben Cort, illustrator of Aliens In Underpants, to create this bright literary take on his 1969 song

Illustrated by Ben Cort, the talented artist behind bestselling book series Aliens In Underpants, the book follows five children on an underwater adventure though the Octopus’s garden.

The children’s fantasy journey sees them hide in giant whelk shells, swim with a blue whale and ride on the back of a fleet of turtles before joining the octopus in his garden and adorning him with jewels.

The book comes with a CD featuring a reading by Ringo Starr and a never-before-heard version of the song.

Fantasy journey: The five children in the story embark on an underwater adventure with a friendly octopus

Legend has it Ringo Starr came up with the idea for his song about this magpie of a sea creature when the captain on Seller’s boat offered him freshly caught squid for lunch.

One story goes that Starr ate the creature, declared it ‘ok, just like chicken’, and listened as the captain went onto tell him him how octopuses trawl the sea bed for shiny stones and objects to put in front of their caves, creating a sort of garden there.

Others say Sellers did not eat the creature. Whatever, the truth, the tale piqued Starr’s imagination and the song was born.

Inspiration: Starr came up with the idea for the song Octopus’s Garden, which featured on The Beatles’ 1969 album Abbey Road, when dining on squid on Peter Sellers’ yacht off the coast of Sardinia

Starr said today it is ‘great’ that Octopus’s Garden is being brought to life for a whole new generation.

‘Ben Cort’s colourful illustrations really capture the feel of the song. I love it!’ said Starr, adding, ‘peace and love’.

The 1970 Let It Be film shows fellow Beatle George Harrison helping Ringo Starr shape the melody on the piano.

Since the song’s release, it has been covered by the Muppets and The Punkels, made into a mash-up with Blondie’s Heart Of Glass, called Glass Octopus, in 2007, and had its lyrics borrowed by Oasis.

Delighted: Starr says it is ‘great’ that Octopus’s Garden is being brought to life for another generation, adding that Ben Cort’s illustrations ‘really capture the feel of the song’. ‘I love it,’ he says

Octopus’s Garden by Ringo Starr and Ben Cort is published by Simon and Schuster will be released as a book and CD set on 24 October.