Sir Paul McCartney recently revealed to BBC Radio that his former band kept hidden a song they recorded 40 years ago but that “the time has come for it to get its moment.” For Beatles aficionados, could there be anything more exciting? Entitled “Carnival of Light,” the track runs approximately 14 minutes and was performed in public only once-at an electronic music festival. As McCartney explained to Radio 4’s “Front Row” show (and as reported by Reuters), “I said all I want [John, George, and Ringo] 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.” Not so excited now, are you? The teaser alone makes you think less “Revolution 1” and more “Revolution 9.” Just longer. But, as one of my colleagues says, this is Paul’s way of staying relevant and, out of sheer curiosity, fans will be compelled to hear it-at least once. (This coworker is still recovering from only partially listening to “What’s the New Mary Jane.”) And no doubt this will generate attention. Just like the time Starbucks played McCartney’s album Memory Almost Full on a continuous loop for an entire day at all their locations. (This brings to mind The Simpsons waiter who worked at the New Year’s Eve-themed restaurant where the ball drops every few minutes: “Please kill me!”) As for “Carnival of Light,” Reuters reports, “in order for [the song] to be released, McCartney would have to get the agreement of Ringo Starr and the estates of John Lennon and George Harrison. According to the BBC, McCartney had wanted to include the track on The Beatles’ Anthology compilations in the mid-1990s, but the rest of the band vetoed the idea.” That’s right. Even Ringo vetoed it.
