The hypocritical inspiration behind one of John Lennon’s most cutting songs
John Lennon was no stranger to a biting song. Sure, he could write about love and hope, urging people to imagine a better and kinder world, but he was just as capable of delivering a brutal takedown if someone crossed him. Sometimes, he went straight for the throat, but in this instance, to mock a particularly hypocritical man he encountered, he opted for something a little more creative.
The Beatles’ 1968 trip to India was supposed to be all about peace and love. Heading off to study with the Maharishi and get to grips with Transcendental Meditation, the expectation, or at least the hope, was that they would return to the UK feeling truly zen. Anyone would think that after a period of studying a purposefully and decidedly peaceful activity designed to open and calm minds, everyone would leave with nothing but love in their hearts. But in reality, it seemed to do quite the opposite for the Beatles.
Instead, the band seemed to come home with a sense of disillusionment. Lennon wrote ‘Sexy Sadie’, originally planning to title it simply ‘Maharishi’, about the yoga master’s inappropriate advances towards women in their group. As the band started to notice this predatory behaviour from their leader, who was supposed to represent a higher state of living and loving, the bubble seemed to burst. Suddenly, Lennon could only see what was in front of him, which was a strange display of hypocrisy.
‘The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill’ was another song written during that time and another reflection of the kind of hypocrisy that ruined their trip. While hiding behind fictionalised storybook lyricism, it’s still one of Lennon’s most savage takedowns, especially mocking the man who inspired it.
But honestly, it sounds like he deserved it. Lennon recalled the person who inspired the track, standing as another encounter that ruined their entire impression of the Maharishi and his world. “Oh, that was written about a guy in the Maharishi’s meditation camp who took a short break to go shoot a few poor tigers, and then came back to commune with God,” he said.
Heading off to murder some innocent animals and then returning to the camp to do the whole hippie peace and love thing, Lennon saw how insanely contradictory and false that was. Combining the legacy of classic adventuring characters like Tarzan, Jungle Jim and countless other literary figures with the more violent one of Buffalo Bill, a famous American shoulder and shooter, Bungalow Bill was born as one of Lennon’s most mocked musical figures.
“Hey, Bungalow Bill / What did you kill, Bungalow Bill?” the band chants as if they’re pointing and laughing. But it’s in the verses when Lennon’s commentary becomes clever. “The children asked him if to kill was not a sin / ‘Not when he looked so fierce’, his mummy butted in,” the song goes as a track that vehemently stands up for animal rights and rallies again hunting, especially hunting done by a man supposedly keen on peace for all.
Behind it all, the inspiration was a man named Richard Cooke III, known as Rik. He was on the meditation course and the hunting trip with his mother Nancy—just like the embarrassing character of the song. It’s such a mocking tune that it’s even considered to be an early example of a ‘diss track’.
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