Should a lost Beatles song resurface?
Why Paul McCartney should—and shouldn't—release "Carnival of Light"
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
This one's for you, Beatlemaniacs, said Radar online. Paul McCartney is planning to release a 14-minute “experimental” song called “Carnival of Light,” which the Beatles recorded in 1967 but never played for the public. Apparently, “during the session McCartney suggested that the other band members ‘just wander round all of the stuff and bang it, shout, play it—it doesn't need to make sense.’”
“For one whose place in history is not so much secure as gloriously, unquestionably assured,” said John Aizlewood in the Guardian online, McCartney “behaves as though there is some doubt.” Releasing “Carnival of Light” certainly isn’t “going to enhance the Beatles' standing,” and it's likely “to make us think slightly less of them.”
Don’t be so sure, said CNN online. “Almost everything recorded by the Beatles from their early days in Liverpool and Hamburg to their break-up in 1970 has been released to meet insatiable public appetite for anything to do with the legendary Liverpool quartet.” Why would this song be any different?
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Well, for one thing, said Stuart Heritage in Heckler Spray, “Carnival of Light” is “probably most famous” for not being included on The Beatles Anthology “because George Harrison and Ringo Starr thought it was rubbish.” Does McCartney just want to show the world that he had an “arty” side, too? Or did Heather Mills take so much of his money that he’s willing to release what’s likely a “pile of un-listenable, self-indulgent twaddle”?
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
-
Boys from the Blackstuff review
The Week Recommends A 'powerful' adaptation of Alan Bleasdale's 'masterpiece'
By The Week Staff Published
-
10 things you need to know today: September 28, 2023
Daily Briefing Republican rivals clash as absent Trump tries to upstage debate, the Senate approves a formal dress code, and more
By Harold Maass Published
-
Book bans
Cartoons
By The Week Staff Published