Music industry student Cameron Bacon, alumni Samuel Carroll ’25, Nicholas Ruiz-Garrecht ’24, and Michael Viani ’24, and George Wurzbach, specialist professor in the Department of Music and Theatre Arts, created an original song, “Come Back,” for the new documentary, “Miss O’Dell.”
Mirroring The Beatles’ “Get Back,” the track blends into the film’s soundtrack during an animated scene featuring the band’s iconic rooftop concert. The film highlights the life and groundbreaking career of Chris O’Dell, a former personal assistant and tour manager, who worked with acclaimed artists such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan.
“The participating Blue Hawk music students were seniors writing and performing their first professional commercial project. The Monmouth University Blue Hawk Music Group strives to create a transitional environment for our students to enter the professional music industry,” Wurzbach said.
Ruiz-Garrecht added, “Professor Wurzbach was there every step of the way, and we owe a lot of what we did for this project to him. He really emphasized the idea of getting creative with these covers … rearranging and restructuring the two songs in ways that were similar to the originals but still had a mark of our own.”
Recent graduates Carroll, Ruiz-Garrecht, and Viani were students while working on the project. Ruiz-Garrecht, Bacon, and Wurzbach co-wrote the piece, while all five—Viani, Ruiz-Garrecht, Carroll, Bacon, and Wurzbach—helped bring the track to life.
“They were asking for our take on ‘Get Back.’ So, we wrote different lyrics and changed the melody a little bit. I am very honored to have this opportunity and it’s very cool to see my name on a streaming platform … I like producing and writing music and I hope to build on this opportunity,” Bacon said.
Carroll added, “Seeing Chris talk about The Beatles’ rooftop concert while the track played was so satisfying to watch, I’m super proud of the work that George, Nick, Cam, Mike, and I put into it.”
Kenneth Womack, Ph.D., professor of English and popular music, also played a pivotal role in the project by introducing the film’s director, Simon Weitzman, to Wurzbach. That connection led to Weitzman requesting background music for an animated recreation of The Beatles iconic rooftop concert.
“Professor Wurzbach and our Monmouth students really came through in terms of matching the mood set by the filmmaker Simon Weitzman and Chris O’Dell’s story. Their work is a great tribute not only to their talent, which is significant, but to their ability to intuit how their music would best serve the overall production,” Womack said.
Weitzman added, “When Ken came and said that George was keen for his students to be involved, it was great. We were very keen to include them. It’s a short piece in the film, but it’s but it’s very relevant because it’s at the ‘Get Back’ sort of this thing where Chris talks about being up on the roof at Savile Row. And so, it was really nice to have that sort of sound in there from them and I know that they went to a lot of trouble and did a lot of work to make that sort ‘Get Back’ sound which was really nice and beautifully done. So, we were really pleased with it.”
