The Beatles fans are hoping to hear Carnival of Light, either through an official release or a “bootlegged” version.
The legendary song was set for release on the 50th Anniversary edition of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Bandbut the song was quietly pulled before release. Paul McCartney remains keen to release the song and after the release of Now and Then, fans hope his interest is renewed. A post to r/TheBeatles on Reddit has seen some hope for a leak of the soundscape, which has been heard by only a select few people. A post to the subreddit reads: “Carnival of Light – interesting it has never been bootlegged.
“I’ve been listening to lots of fan-made YouTube playlists of The Beatles bootlegs lately and had the thought that it’s quite remarkable that Carnival Of Light – arguably one of the most notorious unreleased pieces of music left to see the light of day – has never been bootlegged in any form.
“Especially considering the almost absurd amount of outtakes, jams, live recordings etc that have been documented by a band that was making music for a relatively short amount of time, it’s unique that this piece which was played publicly once never was heard again by the general public. I know about all the discourse on Wiki etc about Paul pushing for it on Anthologyetc, but moreso surprised a fan didn’t record the original airing as it was advertised in papers etc at the time.”
Other users have recalled that those who had listened to Carnival of Light were not overly impressed with the McCartney-led piece. One user wrote: “Daevid Allen of Soft Machine and Gong attended the event where it was played to the public, and said it was nothing special.
“And he was a freak-out experimental rock guitarist, so I’ll take his word for it that it’s not really worth hearing. But curiosity definitely makes me want to hear it for the sake of completion.”
Another added: “Having it not released brings more of myth to the track that becomes more powerful. Just having the idea of one more unreleased Beatle track will keep people talking about it for decades. It’s kinda brilliant. The unicorn will never be heard, just continued on-going discussions of it. And that in itself is priceless.”
Others were keen never to hear it and, should it remain unreleased, would not be too upset by Carnival of Light‘s absence. They wrote: “The fact that The Beatles never released it just tells that it’s actually crap and no one would like it. If there was any potential at all, it would have been released.”
Another disagreed, replying: “It was only ever heard publicly at the Million Volt Light and Sound Rave (which it was created for), it hasn’t even been bootlegged, much less officially released.
“IMO, hearing early/alternate takes of their songs does provide insight into how their most popular songs came together, some of the alternate versions could have ended up being the final release if they hadn’t decided to rework them (e.g. I’m Looking Through You, Your Bird Can Sing, and Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da)
“I think it would only be a cash cow if there was absolutely nothing to be gained from hearing them. It’s actually encouraging to know the Beatles didn’t just get their songs right out of the gate.”