The song, “Carnival of Light” by The Beatles was originally written because a famous piano designer and artist – who had just rendered a well-known design for a piano owned by Paul McCartney – had asked the band to write a song for The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave that was up and coming. The ‘Million Volt Light and Sound Rave’ was basically a 60s music festival that celebrated electronic music, its advancements as well as sounds and lights; featuring more than a million volts of light, in a lengthy festival that was purged by free lovers, the high spirited and the hippie generation. This event was typically a several day affair that saw thousands of people who were looking to find themselves in music.

The song rang true to the nature of the festival, featuring ambient noises, lots of distortion in the microphones and tons of different electronic sounds that were added to make it more electronic for its time. The song, as Paul McCartney recounts, just wanders all over the place. There is no true beat for certain…just bits and pieces of instruments and samples all over the place. At certain points, one is sure that it will break into a fully fledged tune, however it does not.

As the great Sir McCartney stated in November of 2008, with regards to ‘The Carnival of Lights,’ “I said all I want you 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 onto the piano, hit a few notes and just wander around.”

The knighted British icon is absolutely right when it comes to this song. It just wanders and takes the mind on a musical trip…one that is most certainly reminiscent of Frank Zappa and other cats of the day that played experimental rock.

Check Out The Carnival of Light Video
While it would be nearly impossible to actually find live footage of this song being performed, as The Beatles rarely did so with this tune, I was able to find a cool video on Youtube.com that offers the song and allows you hear this rare Beatles tune. The video has been placed below. Take a gander and comment back on what you feel this tune offers—it’s a rare Beatles song that was never really big and was only created as a favor for a friend.

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