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Miss O'Dell

"Miss O'Dell"
Miss O'Dell label.jpg
Single by George Harrison
A-side "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)"
Released 7 May 1973
Format 7-inch vinyl
Recorded October 1972–February 1973
Apple Studio, London; FPSHOT, Oxfordshire
Genre Folk rock
Length 2:33
Label Apple
Songwriter(s) George Harrison
Producer(s) George Harrison
George Harrison singles chronology
"Bangla Desh"
(1971)
"Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)'" / "Miss O'Dell"
(1973)
"Dark Horse"
(1974)
"Bangla Desh"
(1971)
"Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)'" /
"Miss O'Dell"
(1973)
"Dark Horse"
(1974)

"Miss O'Dell" is a song by English musician George Harrison, released as the B-side of his 1973 hit single "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)". Like Leon Russell's "Pisces Apple Lady", it was inspired by Chris O'Dell, a former Apple employee, and variously assistant and facilitator to musical acts such as the Beatles, Derek & the Dominos, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Santana. Harrison wrote the song in Los Angeles in April 1971 while waiting for O'Dell to pay him a visit at his rented home. As well as reflecting her failure to keep the appointment, the lyrics provide a light-hearted insight into the Los Angeles music scene and comment on the growing crisis in East Pakistan that led Harrison to stage the Concert for Bangladesh in August that year.

Harrison recorded "Miss O'Dell" in England between October 1972 and February 1973, during the sessions for his Living in the Material World album. The arrangement reflects the influence of Dylan, and the recording is notable for Harrison breaking into laughter midway through the verses. A popular B-side, "Miss O'Dell" was unavailable officially for over 30 years after this initial release, until its inclusion as a bonus track on the 2006 reissue of Material World. An alternate, laughter-free vocal take of the song circulates on Harrison bootleg CDs and was included on the DVD accompanying the deluxe edition of Living in the Material World in 2006. O'Dell named her 2009 autobiography after the song.

After arriving in London from Los Angeles in mid May 1968, to start work at the Beatles' Apple Corps headquarters at the invitation of her friend Derek Taylor, Chris O'Dell began a career that saw her become, in author Philip Norman's words, "the ultimate insider" in rock-music circles. In the space of two years, O'Dell witnessed first-hand a series of key moments in rock 'n' roll: she joined in the backing chorus on the song "Hey Jude"; she was on the Apple rooftop in January 1969 when the Beatles played live for the last time; she personally delivered the harmonicas for Bob Dylan's comeback performance at the Isle of Wight; and on the day Paul McCartney announced he was leaving the Beatles, she was there at George Harrison's Friar Park mansion when Harrison and John Lennon met to discuss the news. Later in the 1970s, O'Dell went on to work with the Rolling Stones, during the LA sessions for Exile on Main St. (1972) and their subsequent "STP" US tour, and on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's 1974 reunion tour and Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue of 1975, but her heart would remain with the Beatles – her time with the Stones, she says, felt like a "climb down the ladder". Similarly, after working for Harrison and his wife Pattie Boyd during their first few months at Friar Park, from March to June 1970, she would always view the Henley estate as a spiritual home, and the Harrisons as her most important friends in the fickle world of the music business. Adding to the list of what Britain's Daily Mail has described as her "certainly impressive" credentials, O'Dell assisted Harrison in preparing for the recording sessions for All Things Must Pass (1970), helped him recruit musicians for the Bangladesh benefit concerts, served on his 1974 North American tour with Ravi Shankar, and was privy to the details that ended the Harrisons' marriage as well as that of Ringo Starr and Maureen Starkey.


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