On Global Beatles Day (June 25, 2026), I’m ABBsolutely thrilled to bring you this episode with Chris O’Dell, who was on the rooftop the day of the Beatles’ last performance. It’s far from her only incredible encounter with rock & roll.
Though podcast episodes are typically pre-released for paid members of Long Live the ABB, putting this behind a paywall was inappropriate on Global Beatles Day. Thank you to paid members of the community for making this work possible.
Episode Overview
Chris O’Dell answered phones at Apple Corps in 1968, added handclaps on “Revolution 9,” sat mere feet from the Fabs on the Savile Row rooftop, and lived at Friar Park with George Harrison and Pattie Boyd. She toured with the Rolling Stones, ran the Rolling Thunder Revue for Bob Dylan, and got sober raising a son in the middle of all of it. Leon Russell wrote two songs for her and George Harrison wrote one. Throughout her stories, Chris is both thoughtful and humble about her role as a “collector of experiences” in rock’s halcyon days.
Our Crossroads
We meet at the Beatles, the most significant group of their era not only because of their music, but because of their influence. The Beatles were Mom’s favorite band. I discovered them through her record collection. They were my first favorite band and have remained in my listening repertoire nearly all of my 55 years. Chris fled Tucson for Los Angeles and joined the rock & roll circus. Chris was very much aware of Duane’s role on Layla, and unaware of Wilson Pickett’s “Hey Jude” with Duane.1 We also share more than music: my own family’s history with addiction and recovery mirrors the years Chris spent learning to understand the disease, getting sober, and becoming a therapist herself.
These crossroads run from Tulsa to Tucson, L.A. to London, Muscle Shoals to Macon, and everything in between. This was a truly delightful Conversation from the Crossroads.
The Conversation
The Beatles. Chris necessarily didn’t set out to work for the Beatles. She went to London at the invitation of Derek Taylor, a Beatles’ insider who served as their publicist. Soon after arriving in London, she added handclaps on “Revolution #9,” was there when John and Yoko made their first public appearance as a couple, and earned a job with Apple. She was one of only three non-Beatles/crew/film crew on the rooftop at Apple on January 30, 1969, the Beatles’ last-ever performance.2 She remembers the cold more than anything: January wind, no shelter, watching the street below as Londoners realized what they were hearing.
Songs. Chris calls songs “gifts,” and she would know, having had three written for her. The first two were by Leon Russell, “Pisces Apple Lady” and “Hummingbird,” a relationship she discusses here.3 The third, George Harrison’s “Miss O’Dell” was the flipside to his #1 hit “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth).”
Pattie Boyd and George Harrison. Pattie Boyd set the terms of their friendship early, “You can be my friend, or you can sleep with George, but not both.” They have remained friends ever since, including the period when Eric Clapton used Chris as cover to spend time with Pattie. Chris ended up finding the London flat where Eric and the Dominos stayed after returning from Miami recording Layla.
Jim Gordon. O’Dell had a brief affair with drummer Jim Gordon. She was unaware the drummer had attacked Rita Coolidge on the Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour, only learning of it after Gordon chased her around a London flat with a knife. Had Robert Stigwood not happened to arrive unannounced, Chris feels certain he would have killed her. Gordon was later diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent decades in a psychiatric prison after brutally killing his mother. She feels empathy for Gordon, noting his genuine kindness, but not overlooking the underlying danger nobody had the language for yet.
Women in rock & roll. Chris built space for women in rock & roll beyond the traditional role of muse. By her own count, she worked with more bands than any of the male road managers of her era. Chris is blunt about her experience as a woman in the music business working on two continents. The British end of the business treated her well. The American side was rougher. She never once had a problem with a musician. The friction always came from production crews and/or management: a gauntlet of misogynistic executives, managers, and agents.
Miss O’Dell: Abbey Road to Tulsa Time. Chris has been telling her story for years. In 2009, she published Miss O’Dell: My Hard Days and Long Nights with the Beatles, the Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and the Women They Loved. A documentary, Miss O’Dell: From Backstage to the Frontlines of Rock History, appeared in 2025. And in 2026 she launched a podcast in conjunction with the Church Studio in Tulsa4 called Miss O’Dell: Abbey Road to Tulsa Time. Her guests have included Pattie Boyd, Leon Russell biographer Bill Janovitz, photographer Henry Diltz, Beatles’ hairstylist Leslie Cavendish, among others.
Resources
Chris O’Dell
BOOK: Miss O’Dell: My Hard Days and Long Nights with the Beatles, the Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and the Women They Loved (2009).
DOCUMENTARY: Miss O’Dell: From Backstage to the Frontlines of Rock History (2025)
Paid members of the Long Live the ABB community get early access to Conversation from the Crossroads episodes and playlists.
Playlist
Here’s a Youtube playlist of music Chris O’Dell is associated with.
“Hummingbird” - Leon Russell
“Pisces Apple Lady” - Leon Russell
“Miss O’Dell” - George Harrison
“Layla” - Derek & the Dominos
“Something” - The Beatles
“Hey Jude” - The Beatles
“Hey Jude” - Wilson Pickett
Rooftop Concert - The Beatles (live 1969)
“Hummingbird” - B.B. King
“One More Cup of Coffee” - Bob Dylan (live/Rolling Thunder 1975)
“Tangled Up in Blue” - Bob Dylan (live/Rolling Thunder 1975)
“Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You” - Bob Dylan (live/Rolling Thunder 1975)
“Tumbling Dice” - The Rolling Stones (live 1972)
“Sweet Virginia” - The Rolling Stones (live 1972)
“Dead Flowers” - The Rolling Stones (live 1972)
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“This is wonderful!” she wrote back to me in email after I shared it.
The other two are Ringo’s wife Maureen Starkey and Yoko Ono. Yes, she heard “Get Back,” “I’ve Got a Feeling,” “Dig a Pony,” “One After 909” with her own ears.
B.B. King had “Hummingbird” in his repertoire beginning in 1970.
Church Studio founder/resurrector Teresa Knox visited the Crossroads as well.
