Songfacts®:

• This Ted Nugent composition became a staple of his live set; it is not dissimilar in content from the later Thin Lizzy track "Genocide (The Killing Of The Buffalo)," although while with the latter, Phil Lynott was writing from an historical perspective, for Nugent it is more personal. A great admirer of Native American culture, one of the hallmarks of his lifestyle is hunting his dinner with a bow and arrow - Ted has never been your regular rock star! >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Alexander Baron - London, England
• Nugent makes a cogent argument on this song about the need to respect animals to ensure their survival. He explains how Native Americans used every part of the animals they killed, and buffalo thrived. When the white man came, he killed buffalo for profit, which dwindled their population. In this song, the great white buffalo is the hero, appearing to lead his herd.
  
  Many of Nugent's songs have lyrics about sex or nonsense, but he maintains that some contain relevant commentary, although the statements often got lost in the riffs. He said in a 1979 interview with NME: "Maybe some people will listen to 'Great White Buffalo' and realize that you can't market animals and expect them to be around for ever, but I don't think so. I think they listen to 'Great White Buffalo' and they listen to the guitar riff."
  
  In later years, Nugent became a mouthpiece for gun rights and other conservative issues. Always an avid hunter, his views are often at odds with animal rights supporters, but they might find common ground in this song.
• The original recording appeared on Tooth Fang & Claw, the seventh and final album from Nugent's group The Amboy Dukes (credited to "Ted Nugent and The Amboy Dukes"). Nugent went solo after the album's release and issued a steady stream of albums that sold very well throughout the '70s. As he built up his repertoire with hits like "Stranglehold" and "Cat Scratch Fever," "Great White Buffalo" - ignored for the most part when it was first released - found new life and became a rock radio favorite.
• Recorded in June 1974, Ted Nugent is credited as the writer on this track, and he shares credit for the arrangement with with Amboy Dukes bass player Rob Grange. According to Nugent, the riff came to him while he was tuning up his guitar. They captured it on tape and quickly recorded the song, with Nugent writing the lyric on the spot.
• Live, "Great White Buffalo" sees Nugent soloing extensively and freely. In 1982, he told biographer Robert Holland that this was one of his favorite (of his own) songs.