Ignored             Obscured              Restored

One of the most unlikely muses for rock musicians was an American woman named Chris O’Dell.  Though she lacked relevant experience, she was hired by Beatles insider Derek Taylor — whom she had met in L.A. — to move to London and work at Apple Corps.  She compensated for her lack of experience with grit, determination, and an unwillingness to take “no” for an answer.

Using those qualities, she made herself an invaluable part of the Beatles’ organization and later witnessed some of its most famous moments.  She was invited to sing on the closing chorus of “Hey Jude” and was on the rooftop at 3 Savile Row when the Beatles gave their final public performance on January 30, 1969.  And those are just two highlights from a remarkable résumé.

But O’Dell achieved a different kind of immortality when George Harrison wrote and recorded “Miss O’Dell,” released as the B-side to the 1973 single “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth).”

Harrison was inspired to write the song after O’Dell arrived late for a meeting at his Malibu home in 1971.  The song opens with a reference to the famine in Bangladesh, a cause that deeply affected Harrison, before taking a sharply humorous turn.  He sings about California smog, waves crashing toward his porch, and the hangers-on of the L.A. scene — hipsters carrying drugs while trying to gain access to a Beatle.  Why isn’t Miss O’Dell there to rescue him?

(Extra-credit trivia: the phone number “Garston 6922” that Harrison mutters at the end of the song was Paul McCartney’s childhood phone number in Liverpool.)

The song’s loose, playful spirit is heightened by the three moments where Harrison breaks into laughter after flubbing lines in the verses — mistakes he chose to leave in the finished recording.  The backing track is equally relaxed, featuring Harrison on acoustic guitar and harmonica, with Klaus Voormann on bass and Jim Keltner on drums.

But “Miss O’Dell” was not the only song inspired by Chris O’Dell.  Leon Russell wrote “Pisces Apple Lady” while the two were falling in love during a passionate four-month affair.  O’Dell was a Pisces and, of course, closely associated with Apple Records.

O’Dell had originally met Russell when she recommended him as a substitute for Nicky Hopkins on sessions for Jackie Lomax, who was recording for Apple.  Russell and O’Dell connected immediately.

O’Dell later recalled that she first realized “Pisces Apple Lady” was about her while sitting in a studio control room with Eric Clapton during a playback of the track.

And those two songs do not complete O’Dell’s musical legacy as a muse.  Russell would later write a second song about her as well: “Hummingbird.”

Enjoy… until next week.