Beatles aficionados were recently delighted to find that a 14-minute, “lost track” actually exists.
The missing song, “Carnival of Light,” was confirmed by Paul McCartney during a recent BBC interview. “It does exist,” McCartney told BBC Radio 4. The song was actually conceived in 1967, and performed only once in public, according to McCartney. “I like it because it’s The Beatles free, going off piste,” McCartney described. “The time has come for it to get its moment.”
The song was rejected for inclusion in the Anthology compilation, according to McCartney, and the fate of the track remains unclear. As described, the song sounds more like a sonic escapade, and less like a tightly-conceived Beatles classic. Perhaps more “Revolution 9,” and less “Love Me Do,” though the presence of the track could re-energize digital discussions. The Beatles, longtime digital holdouts, have yet to license their content online, though fans have been trading the entire catalog illegally for more than ten years.