Theme for an Imaginary Western

Written by Jack Bruce (he of Cream fame) and lyricist Pete Brown, "Theme For An Imaginary Western" was included on Bruce's 1969 solo album Songs For A Tailor, released shortly after Cream's demise. Felix Pappalardi, who was Bruce's producer, recorded the song with his band Mountain for their 1970 album Climbing!. With Pappalardi on lead vocals, this became the most popular version of the song.

In a Songfacts interview with Pete Brown, he explained that The Graham Bond Organisation, an influential group that Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker were in before forming Cream, was the inspiration for the lyric, which tells a tale of settlers heading into the desert. Said Brown: "The Graham Bond Organisation were like a mixture between pioneers and outlaws, and when Jack played me the music for 'Theme For An Imaginary Western' it reminded me of a Western movie. I'm a big Western fan, you know. I collect them, and it reminded me of some of the great Western scores by Dimitri Tiomkin and people like that, which I love. So, it reminded me of that. So, I got the Western thing but then, I thought, 'No, this is not about cowboys, it's about Graham Bond and the Graham Bond Organisation.' That's the way it ended up. I still sing it quite a lot. When I'm doing gigs, I always include it."

Though his main instrument is bass, Bruce would perform this song seated at the piano. The definitive version is surely the live recording made by Mountain guitarist Leslie West for the Night Of The Guitars series of concerts. Although a fine ballad it renders even better as an ego trip for lead guitar, and the West solo is a tour de force of distortion, tremolo and sustain.