Miss O'Dell

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"Miss O'Dell"
FPSHOT, Oxfordshire
GenreFolk rock
Length2:33
LabelApple
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)

"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 Living in the 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.

Background and composition

After arriving in London from Los Angeles in mid-May 1968, to start work at

leaving the Beatles, she was there at George Harrison's Friar Park mansion when Harrison and John Lennon met to discuss the news.[3] 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 said her time with the Stones, she says, felt like a "climb down the ladder".[4] 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,[5] and the Harrisons as her most important friends in the fickle world of the music business.[6] 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.[7]

By April 1971, O'Dell was back in California, working with former

Radha Krishna Temple (London) album[9][10] – both acts that O'Dell had been involved with professionally in 1969–70 – was now in Los Angeles to begin work on Shankar's Raga film soundtrack.[11][12] He had also been informed of the tragic events occurring in Shankar's homeland, following the Bhola cyclone and the outbreak of the Bangladesh Liberation War.[13][14] This was an issue that Harrison dealt with in the opening verse of a song he began writing, "Miss O'Dell",[15] while waiting for his eponymous friend to visit him at his rented Malibu home:[11][16]

I'm the only one down here who's got
Nothing to say about the war or the rice
That keeps going astray on its way to Bombay ...

Adopting a considerably more lighthearted approach than would be the case in his "storming, urgent" song "

his autobiography.[18]
)

His disenchantment with the Californian surroundings and O'Dell's failure to turn up as arranged[19] are reflected in the next lines:[20]

That smog that keeps polluting up our shores
Is boring me to tears
Why don't you call me, Miss O'Dell?

In verse two, Harrison describes the ocean-front house, the balcony of which stretched out over the waves below:[11]

I'm the only one down here who's got
Nothing to fear from the waves or the night
That keeps rolling on right up to my front porch ...

Inside the house, neither he nor his driver Ben could get the record player to work,

middle eight: "I can tell you, nothing new / Has happened since I last saw you."[20]

In her 2009 memoir, O'Dell explains that her escalating drug habit had been responsible for her non-attendance on the evening in question, as well as a reluctance to have to put up with scores of hangers-on around the ex-Beatle.[21] In the song's third verse, however, Harrison shows that he too had no interest in the typical trappings of the LA music scene:[20]

I'm the only one down here who's got
Nothing to say about the hip or the dope
Or the cat with most hope to fill the Fillmore
That pushed-and-shoving ringing on my bell
Is not for me tonight
Why don't you call me, Miss O'Dell?

O'Dell eventually drove up the Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu and found him, in keeping with the song's "I'm the only one down here" refrain, alone and feeling "pretty lonely".[14] After joking to her "I'm going to make you famous", Harrison played the new song, about which O'Dell would later write: "I heard George sing 'Miss O'Dell' many times in the years to come, but it would never sound as good as it did that night with the waves breaking and the breeze blowing through the room ..."[22]

Recording

Following the completion of the Rolling Stones' North American tour in late July 1972,

Sara Lownds.[30] The couple had temporarily escaped a chaotic location shoot in Durango, Mexico, where Dylan was starring in the Sam Peckinpah western Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.[31]

On the recording of "Miss O'Dell", Harrison plays acoustic guitar and harmonicas,

Wings' for his fictitious "Jim Keltner Fan Club" banner, on the back of the Material World album cover.[36][37] Harrison recorded a "straight" vocal on the same backing track, a version that is available unofficially on bootlegs such as Living in the Alternate World and Pirate Songs.[26]

Release

Trade ad for the "Give Me Love" single, May 1973

Apple Records released "Miss O'Dell" as the

B-side of Living in the Material World's lead single, "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)",[38] on 7 May 1973 in America and 25 May in Britain.[39] Authors Chip Madinger and Mark Easter suggest that the song was considered for inclusion on the album also, in its non-laughing vocal take; an alleged early alternative to the LP's side-one track order omitted the album opener, "Give Me Love", and had "Miss O'Dell" closing the side.[40]

As with the majority of the songs on Living in the Material World,[41] the copyright for "Miss O'Dell" was assigned to the Material World Charitable Foundation.[42] Harrison established the foundation in April 1973,[43] partly to support charitable causes,[44] and as a means to avoid the government and legal interference that had resulted in the withholding of funds raised for the Bangladeshi refugees over 1971–72.[45][46][47]

Reissue

Having become a sought-after rarity for over 30 years,[34] "Miss O'Dell" was finally given a second release when included as a bonus track on the 2006 remaster of Living in the Material World.[48][49] The "straight"-vocal take of the song was issued at this time as well, set to archival footage and included on the deluxe-edition, CD/DVD version of the album.[50]

"Miss O'Dell" also appears on the 2014 Apple Years 1968–75 reissue of Material World.[51] The DVD exclusive to the Apple Years box set similarly includes the film clip originally issued in 2006.[52]

Reception

Writing for AllMusic, Bruce Eder considers "Miss O'Dell" to be an "important bonus track" on the remastered Living in the Material World CD, as well as "an exuberant and richly produced, light-hearted number".[53] In another review of the 2006 reissue, for the Vintage Rock website, Shawn Perry viewed the inclusion of "Miss O'Dell" as "unremarkable yet special enough to thrill the hardcore fans". Perry described the film accompanying the alternative take as "a still photo slideshow of Harrison and his pals eating, drinking, and frolicking on the grounds of what may or may not be Friar Park, the former Beatle's estate", and admired the bonus DVD as perhaps the "pièce de résistance" of the deluxe edition of Material World.[54]

The song has traditionally received a warm reception from Beatles biographers. Simon Leng describes it as a "jaunty, Dylanesque flip side", a "short musical postcard" from an ex-Beatle "[sent] off to rock star exile in Los Angeles" and obviously bored with what he finds there.[20] Bruce Spizer views it a "delightful throw-away song perfect for a B-side",[33] while to Chip Madinger and Mark Easter, less impressed with the Material World album, "Miss O'Dell" is a "great track, full of the humor so desperately missing from the rest of the LP".[40]

Theologian

Unknown Delight", written shortly after the birth of his son, Dhani Harrison.[58]

Personnel

References

  1. ^ O'Dell, pp. 15, 17.
  2. ^ Philip Norman, dust-jacket quote in O'Dell.
  3. ^ O'Dell, pp. 54–56, 74–77, 155.
  4. ^ O'Dell, p. 214.
  5. ^ O'Dell, pp. 188, 233.
  6. ^ O'Dell, pp. 161, 162, 185, 188, 193, 214.
  7. ^ O'Dell, pp. 156, 172–73, 196–98, 257–66, 302, 305–06.
  8. ^ O'Dell, pp. 182–83.
  9. ^ Leng, p. 123.
  10. ^ Castleman & Podrazik, p. 101.
  11. ^ a b c d Harrison, p. 248.
  12. ^ Lavezzoli, p. 187.
  13. ^ Leng, p. 111.
  14. ^ a b O'Dell, p. 189.
  15. Consequence of Sound
    , 29 December 2012 (archived version retrieved 15 August 2014).
  16. ^ Clayson, p. 317.
  17. ^ Leng, p. 113.
  18. ^ a b Harrison, p. 220.
  19. ^ O'Dell, pp. 186–88.
  20. ^ a b c d e f Leng, p. 136.
  21. ^ O'Dell, p. 186.
  22. ^ O'Dell, p. 191.
  23. ^ Wyman, p. 398.
  24. ^ a b O'Dell, p. 234.
  25. ^ Schaffner, p. 159.
  26. ^ a b c Madinger & Easter, p. 442.
  27. ^ Inglis, pp. 43, 44.
  28. ^ Badman, p. 83.
  29. ^ Leng, pp. 94, 136.
  30. ^ Sounes, p. 272.
  31. ^ Heylin, pp. 342–44.
  32. ^ Inglis, p. 43.
  33. ^ a b Spizer, p. 250.
  34. ^ a b Huntley, p. 95.
  35. ^ Clayson, p. 322.
  36. ^ Rodriguez, p. 81.
  37. ^ Spizer, pp. 158, 256.
  38. ^ Badman, p. 99.
  39. ^ Castleman & Podrazik, p. 125.
  40. ^ a b Madinger & Easter, p. 440.
  41. ^ Schaffner, p. 160.
  42. ^ Harrison, p. 385.
  43. ^ Badman, p. 98.
  44. ^ Book accompanying Collaborations box set by Ravi Shankar and George Harrison (Dark Horse Records, 2010; produced by Olivia Harrison; package design by Drew Lorimer & Olivia Harrison), p. 32.
  45. ^ Clayson, pp. 315–16.
  46. ^ Michael Gross, "George Harrison: How Dark Horse Whipped Up a Winning Tour", CIrcus Raves, March 1975; available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required).
  47. ^ "At the Starting Gate", Contra Band Music, 21 August 2012 (retrieved 22 October 2013).
  48. ^ "George Harrison Living in the Material World (Bonus Tracks)" > Tracks, AllMusic (retrieved 4 June 2013).
  49. ^ Mat Snow, "George Harrison Living in the Material World", Mojo, November 2006, p. 124.
  50. ^ John Metzger, "George Harrison Living in the Material World", The Music Box, vol. 13 (11), November 2006 (retrieved 4 June 2013).
  51. ^ Kory Grow, "George Harrison's First Six Studio Albums to Get Lavish Reissues" Archived 23 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine, rollingstone.com, 2 September 2014 (retrieved 4 October 2014).
  52. ^ Joe Marchese, "Give Me Love: George Harrison’s 'Apple Years' Are Collected On New Box Set", The Second Disc, 2 September 2014 (retrieved 4 October 2014).
  53. ^ Bruce Eder, "George Harrison Living in the Material World (Bonus Tracks/DVD)", AllMusic (retrieved 4 October 2014).
  54. ^ Shawn Perry, "George Harrison, Living In The Material World – CD Review", vintagerock.com, October 2006 (retrieved 29 November 2014).
  55. ^ Allison, p. 116.
  56. ^ Inglis, p. 44.
  57. ^ Inglis, pp. 43, 141.
  58. ^ Inglis, pp. 26–27, 33–34, 82, 141.

Sources

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