Eric Clapton: “Carnival” (1976)

A slightly edited version of “Carnival” served as the second single from No Reason To Cry, but it weren’t no Wonderful Tonight.

Kronomyth 6.2: Nao chore para more-a.

When Eric Clapton entered the studio to record No Reason To Cry, he only had a few songs in hand including Carnival, which he had already performed a couple of times during his 1975 summer tour. In its original version, “Carnival” was a chugging number with a generous wah-wah solo in the middle; nothing great, mind you, but more respectable than the compressed and cartoonish version you’ll find here. In the studio, the organ was pumped up, the guitar was downplayed and the whole thing sounded like a multicultural mishmash. From the opening “oi,” which is more British than Brazilian, the song just gets it wrong. I don’t know why the label felt it was a good choice for a second single, but it didn’t go anywhere on the charts and I don’t recall hearing it played on the radio. Clapton didn’t even play it live after the album was released, so far as I can tell. The single had a limited international release, and it appears some countries (Australia, the Netherlands) replaced Hungry with County Jail Blues as the B side. The single version of “Carnival” is about a half-minute shorter than the elpee version; not sure if they cut anything out other than an early fade on the ending, but I’m happy to have the 30 seconds of my life back.

Original 7-inch single version

A1. Carnival (Eric Clapton) (3:10)
B1. Hungry (Marcy Levy/Dick Sims) (3:37)*

*Some versions feature “Country Jail Blues” (Alfred Fields) on the B side.

The Plastic

Released on 7-inch in 1977 in the UK, Australia, Chile and Germany (RSO, 2090 222), the US (RSO, RS 868) and Yugoslavia (RTB, S 53 982) with regional picture sleeve.