Quite obviously in an effort to double his chances at making TMT’s Year-End List (his third LP collaborating with Orb/Killing Joke’s Youth as The Fireman also drops this week), the deliciously hammy Sir Paul McCartney has recently confirmed the existence of the legendary ‘lost’ Beatles freestyle/psych/noise track, “Carnival of Light” in an interview with BBC Radio 4. Cleverly side-stepping the abundant lameness of the song’s title, McCartney went on to explain that the 14-minute jam was recorded by the band in 1967 (during vocal sessions for “Penny Lane,” in fact) for an electronic music festival and was never officially released after its lone public debut. According to BBC News, McCartney pushed for the song to be included as part of those good ol’ The Beatles' 'Anthology' releases in the mid-’90s, but it was, you know, vehemently vetoed by the rest of the band on the grounds that it was, you know, way too embarrassing to the band’s legacy.
But damnit, you just can’t keep a scorned Beatle down, as McCartney is now once again alluding to its impending release. “The time has come for its moment,” said McCartney, summoning his best J.R.R. Tolkien rhetoric. And while he didn’t provide a timeframe for the song’s release or whether it would be included on a compilation or exist as a standalone song, the BBC has noted that "all he [McCartney] needs now is the blessing of Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, and George Harrison's widow, Olivia."
As for the tune itself, it’s been described by George Martin as a good ol’ fashioned "jumble of shrieks and psychedelic effects" that "features the sound of gargled water and strangled shouts from [John] Lennon which vie with church organs and distorted guitar" (move over, Fuck Buttons). "I like it because it's The Beatles free, going off piste,” McCartney said of the illustrious jam. “I said all I want you to do is just wander around all the stuff, bang it, shout, play it, it doesn't need to make any sense. Hit a drum then wander on to the piano, hit a few notes, just wander around. So that's what we did and then put a bit of an echo on it. It's very free."
Okay, so I’m just going to go ahead and say it: that sounds fucking terrible.
