This is another song from the White Album. The sequence of Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, Wild Honey Pie and Bungalow Bill is quite off-putting and probably my least favourite section on any Beatles album.
The Beatles Bible‘The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill’ was written by John Lennon in 1968 in Rishikesh, India. It was inspired by an American visitor who departed for a tiger-killing spree before returning to the ashram to seek spiritual enlightenment.
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WikipediaGeorge Martin is quoted (in Anthology) as saying: “I thought we should probably have made a very, very good single album rather than a double. But they insisted. I later learnt that by recording all those songs they were getting rid of their contract with EMI more quickly.”
I don’t like Bungalow Bill in the same way I don’t like Rocky Racoon. They initially struck me as quite similar in being “story” songs with oddball characters. But whereas it was characteristic for McCartney to write this kind of quirky song, and it would sometimes yield great results, it would have been uncharacteristic of Lennon; his best songs were often about his experiences, inner life, politics and philosophy (e.g., Help, In My Life, Julia, Jealous Guy, God, Mother). So this tale of elephants and tiger hunting seems like an outlier. But actually it’s a true-ish story based on an experience they had in India where a fellow attendee at the Maharishi’s ashram had gone on a hunt (with his mum), and ended-up shooting a tiger. The song is essentially mocking him; presumably the act of killing an animal would have been against the ethos of the camp.
But it sounds like a story song and it has an unappealing “playground chant” chorus.
It’s not my favourite song and IMO it dilutes the impact of the stronger songs on the white album. In fact there are a couple of songs lower in my ranking that I’d rather listen to, so perhaps my rating system has gone awry and it should have been lower in the order.
The only thing I will say in it’s favour is that it’s trail out provides an powerful and atmospheric gear change to segue into While My Guitar Gently Weeps. “Ey up!”