Taken from Jacks classic solo album Songs For A Tailor recorded in 1969.
The record was produced by Felix Pappalardi and is the only Jack Bruce
(solo) record to reach the top ten in Australia, achieving a height of no.
7.(I don’t know how it faired in other parts of the world.)
This ballad has been a regular inclusion in Jacks concert performances
over the last thirty-one years, and rightly so as it one of those few
exceptional songs that doesn't date as music trends change.
The song being a Bruce / Brown collaboration with the lyrics by Pete Brown
conjuring vivid images of the old wild west and a time less complicated but
harsh environment, filled with adventure but tainted by bad times and few
good times.
Musicians:
Jack Bruce: vocals, piano, organ & bass.
Chris Spedding: guitar
Jon Hiseman: Drums

Theme for an Imaginary Western
Introduction
G, Bm, Em, G, Bm, Em,
Em           Bm                     Em
When the wagons leave the city
Em      A9     A7             F
for the forest and further on
F           G        Bm     Em
Painted wagons of the morning
Em    A9                                C
dusty roads where they have gone
C               G          Bm              Em
Sometimes traveling through the darkness
Em      A9        A7        F
met the summer coming home
F        G    Bm       Em       Em7
Fallen faces by the wayside
Em7         C        Am            G       Bm
looked as if they might have known
Chorus
Bm     Em9                 Bm
Oh the sun was in their eyes
Bm       Em            Bm
and the desert that dries
Bm     C        G
In the country towns
G             Em        A
where the laughter sounds
Bm     G                      Em
Oh the dancing and the singing
Em     A9   A7             F
Oh the music when they played
F       G    Bm
Oh the fires that they started
Bm     A9                 C
Oh the girls with no regret
C                      G        Bm
Sometimes they found it
Bm                    Em
Sometimes they kept it
Em    A9    A7       F
Often lost it on the way
F                  G    Bm        Em
Fought each other to possess it
Em             C        Am
Sometimes died in sight of day
Chorus
Bm     Em9                 Bm
Oh the sun was in their eyes
Bm       Em            Bm
and the desert that dries
Bm     C        G
In the country towns
G             Em        A
where the laughter sounds
Instrumental
G,Bm,Em,A,A7,F,G,Bm,
A,A7,F,G,Bm,Em,
C,Am,Em...