Carnival Of Light

Composer
Paul McCartney

Unreleased song

Recording Sessions

Studio Two, Abbey Road EMI Studios, London, England - January 5, 1967

Working Titles

Untitled

Notes

Carnival of Light Rave is a two-day event held at the Roundhouse Theatre, London on January 28 and February 4, 1967. The organisers asked Paul to write a piece of music for the event and Paul joined the other Beatles on January 5, 1967 to record this electronic sound collage, originally titled "Untitled" but later known as "Carnival Of Light".

This is the first time the Beatles would make a recording like this (the second and third would be "Sgt. Pepper Concentric Groove Sounds" and "Revolution 9"), a collection of sound loops and distortions. The song combined a basic track with numerous overdubs and it lasted 13'48", the longest uninterrupted Beatles recording to date. Distorted, hypnotic drum and organ sounds, distorted lead guitars, a church organ, voices of John and Paul, vaiours sound effects, and some more effects with heaps of tape echo and manic tambourine compiled the song. John and Paul were not singing, but in fact screaming dementedly and bawling aloud random phrases like "Are you alright?" and "Barcelona!" Paul terminated the proceedings after almost 14 minutes with one final shout up to the control room, "Can we hear it back now?" Then a mono remix was made and Paul handed it to the organisers of Carnival of Light Rave.

This recording was only heard by the people who presented the two-day event and never be issued as a record itself. This made "Carnival Of Light" the most mysterious unreleased Beatle recording ever, as this avant garde Beatle number was never bootlegged.