Octopus's Garden

We saw the Cirque du Soleil show "Love" in Las Vegas. My favorite piece in the show was the Octopus's Garden. The costumes were beautiful, whimsical and the dancing and staging perfectly captured the music. Photography wasn't allowed so I guess these are illegal photos above I copied from a Google search.

"Octopus's Garden"

I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus's garden in the shade
He'd let us in, knows where we've been
In his octopus's garden in the shade

I'd ask my friends to come and see
An octopus's garden with me
I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus's garden in the shade

We would be warm below the storm
In our little hideaway beneath the waves
Resting our head on the sea bed
In an octopus's garden near a cave

We would sing and dance around
Because we know we can't be found
I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus's garden in the shade

We would shout and swim about
The coral that lies beneath the waves
(Lies beneath the ocean waves)
Oh what joy for every girl and boy
Knowing they're happy and they're safe
(Happy and they're safe)

We would be so happy you and me
No one there to tell us what to do
I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus's garden with you
In an octopus's garden with you
In an octopus's garden with you

🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙

Octopi, the supposed plural of octopus, is a favorite among fans of quirky words, but it has no etymological basis. The form was created by English speakers out of a mistaken belief that octopus is Latin and hence pluralized with an -i ending. But octopus comes from ancient Greek, where its plural is octopodes, and though it came to English via scientific Latin—one of the late varieties of Latin that kept the language alive long after it had died out as a first language—it was never a native Latin word and didn’t exist in that language until scientists borrowed it from Greek in the 18th century (and if it were a Latin word, it would take a different form and would not be pluralized with the -i ending).

All of that is beside the point, though, as octopus has been in English for centuries and is now an English word when English speakers use it, so there is no reason not to pluralize it in the English manner. Granted, some Latin and Greek plurals survive in English by convention, but octopi/octopodes is not one of them. Octopuses is far more common than octopi in edited writing of all kinds, including scientific writing.

Still, while the use of octopi can’t be justified on an etymological basis, it is not wrong. It is old enough and common enough to be considered an accepted variant.

I made the fatal mistake of reading about octopuses and their gardening habits. The more I read, the more I regretted having ordered the grilled octopus at B and B the night before seeing the Love show. 

Protective legislation

Due to their intelligence, octopuses in some countries are on the list of experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia, a protection usually extended only to vertebrates. In the UK from 1993 to 2012, the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) was the only invertebrate protected under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.^[36] In 2012, this legislation was extended to include all cephalopods^[37] in accordance with a general EU directive.^[38]

From Wikipedia: 

The idea for the song came about when Starr was on a boat belonging to comedian Peter Sellers in Sardinia in 1968. He ordered fish and chips for lunch, but instead of fish he got squid (it was the first time he'd eaten squid, and he said, "It was OK. A bit rubbery. Tasted like chicken."The boat's captain then told Starr about how octopuses travel along the sea bed picking up stones and shiny objects with which to build gardens. Starr's songwriting was further inspired by his desire to escape mounting hostility among the Beatles; he would later admit that he had "just wanted to be under the sea, too." Uncredited assistance in developing the song's chord changes was provided by Harrison, who can be seen helping Starr work the song out on piano in the Let It Be documentary.^[5]

The song, which contains the lyrics "Oh what joy for every girl and boy/Knowing they're happy and they're safe," is sometimes thought of as being a song for children, like "Yellow Submarine" or "All Together Now". It has also been performed by the Muppets several times in various episodes of their shows.

The basic instrumental track was recorded 26 April 1969, with the Beatles lineup of two electric guitars (Harrison and Lennon, the latter using his finger style technique as on "Julia", "Dear Prudence", etc.), bass guitar (McCartney) and drums (Starr). Starr also provided a temporary guide vocal. (Take 2 of the recording, featuring this guide vocal, Starr singing the first verse three times, is track 14 on disc 2 of Anthology 3.) In the absence of George Martin, the Beatles themselves were listed as producer, with Martin's apprentice Chris Thomas present in the control room to assist. Thirty-two takes were required before the Beatles were satisfied with the track.

The backing vocals by McCartney and Harrison during the guitar solo were put through compressors and limiters to create a gurgling sound. Harrison added the sound of bubbles being blown into a glass of milk using a straw.