One of the points of the Flanders & Swann animal songs
is their satire about human beings,
as in Aesop's Fables, it seems obvious to me,
but this thread has yet to point it out.

Thus, our 'Elephant' is a human being whose life has been
one of, I would guess, working-class drudgery
and back-breaking labor.
No wonder he prefers to remember as little of it as possible.

I'm all right with the fact that this lyric
is not for every audience;
the audiences who are in fact pleased by the song
are sufficient for me.