Jack Bruce ‎– Songs for a Tailor (1969)

Songs for a Tailor is the debut solo album by ex-Cream bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, released in 1969 on Polydor/Atco.

A1. “Never Tell Your Mother She’s Out of Tune”

3:41 |

“Never Tell Your Mother She’s Out of Tune” is a song about an individual who defiantly rejects the expectations of society. The speaker feels alienated and anticipates judgment, but he always manages to stay one step ahead, refusing to be tamed or defined by others.

The song’s title, which references an anecdote told by guitarist Chris Spedding, serves as a metaphor for this theme. Spedding’s mother, a vocalist, became upset when her son pointed out that one of her string players was out of tune. This personal anecdote mirrors the song’s broader message: it’s better to accept things as they are rather than risk upsetting someone, especially when they represent an established authority or a cherished way of life.

When I hear that big black whistle they blow
I feel inside that it’s time for me to be going
Fortunately baby I’d already gone before

The speaker instinctively knows when to leave a situation and is always ahead of the curve, escaping before any trouble can begin.

When they say I’m worth ten pieces of coal
And you shouting hey what about when you are an old man
Fortunately baby I’d already locked the door

He is unbothered by others’ devaluing him and their concerns about his future, having already sealed himself off from their judgment.

They say there are men who are blue like me in the stars
Beards for the weird and bars for bizarre guitarmen
Fortunately baby I’d already joined the force

He acknowledges that he is an outsider, a “weird” or “bizarre” person, but he has already found his own community and purpose.

Good time train well it does not need any track
It wins the race to the place where I’m gonna pack up
Fortunately baby I’d already grabbed the sky

The speaker’s life is an unconventional, free-moving journey, and he has already seized his own destiny before the need to do so even arises.

All the days that the road has spent on me
Judges shout you’ve got to slave to be a freeman
Fortunately baby I am never coming back

He rejects the idea that freedom must be earned through hard work and servitude, and he is determined to never return to that way of thinking.

Good time train, good time train…

A2. “Theme for an Imaginary Western”

3:30 |

“Theme for an Imaginary Western” uses Old West metaphors to describe the tumultuous relationships within the Graham Bond Organization. The song portrays the band as a group of pioneers, traveling and performing together, but constantly engaged in a struggle for personal and creative possession. The lyrics paint a picture of a journey filled with both camaraderie and conflict, ultimately highlighting the combustible energy that defined the group.

When the wagons leave the city
For the forest and further on
Painted wagons of the morning
Dusty roads where they have gone

This stanza sets the scene of the band as a group of pioneers embarking on a journey together, leaving the familiar behind for the unknown.

Sometimes travelling through the darkness
Met the summer coming home
Fallen faces by the wayside
Looked as if they might have known

The band’s journey has its highs and lows, with some members failing along the way. The “fallen faces” represent those who couldn’t keep up with the band’s demanding pace.

O the sun was in their eyes
And the desert that dries
In the country town
Where the laughter sounds

This section describes the transient nature of their lives, moving from one town to the next, performing for people and experiencing fleeting moments of joy.

O the dancing and the singing
O the music when they played
O the fires that they started
O the girls with no regret

This highlights the captivating and sometimes reckless nature of their performances, filled with music, energy, and a disregard for consequences.

Sometimes they found it
Sometimes they kept it
Often lost it on the way
Fought each other to possess it
Sometimes died in sight of day

This final stanza directly addresses the central conflict. The “it” they seek is success or creative satisfaction, which they fight over, often to their detriment, just like cowboys in the Wild West.

A3. “Tickets to Waterfalls”

3:00 |

I bought you tickets for the waterfalls
And you poured away all the change
Trained your bicycle to dance
Told it tales of window boxes and people with locks
While you filed away the time
And lost the place in the river

Couldn’t do anything about the days
But I helped with some of the nights
You worked my blisters to the bone
Playing songs of tiny men and bridges in wine
While you led the time astray
And lost your head in the rainbow

You never saw anything glittering
But you had to melt it down
I made you rivers all run dry
Soaked them up with train timetables and carpets of lies
And I listened to your smile
And found my place in the morning

A4. “Weird of Hermiston”

2:24 |

“Weird of Hermiston” is a poetic exploration of heartbreak, loss, and emotional despair. The lyrics express a deep sense of finality and a refusal to move forward with a past relationship. Brown uses contrasting imagery—like weddings and funerals, parties and solitude—to convey a feeling of being completely adrift and detached from joy. The recurring phrase “I’m not going with you” serves as a definitive rejection, while the natural world reflects the inner turmoil, no longer offering comfort but instead mirroring the speaker’s sadness.

I’m going to a wedding dressed in black
I’m going to a party, won’t be back
And I’m not going with you… no…

Brown establishes a sense of defiance and emotional isolation, as he chooses paths that contrast with the joyful events he attend.

Trees are no longer a comfort
Messages sad in the wires
My hair is hung down with the blackest of rain that I’m feeling

Nature and communication no longer provide solace. The speaker’s physical state reflects his internal sadness, heavy with “blackest of rain.”

I’m going to the river, wash my tears
I’m going to the mountains, cool my fears
That I’m not going with you… no…

He seeks to cleanse himself of sorrow, traveling to symbolic places to find peace and confirm their final separation.

Skies are no longer a comfort
Leaves turning black with the autumn
The corn is hung down with the heaviest weight that I’m feeling

The natural world continues to mirror the speaker’s despair. The weight of his sadness is personified by the drooping, “heavy” corn.

I’m going to a funeral dressed in white
I’m going to a nightclub, to sleep with night
And I’m not going with you… no…

He subverts traditional imagery by wearing white to a funeral and seeking solace in a nightclub, further highlighting his emotional disorientation.

Love is no longer a comfort
Fantastic times are forgotten
My heart is hung down with the saddest of rain that I’m feeling

The final stanza reveals the core of the pain: a lost love and forgotten memories. The heart now bears the full weight of the emotional “rain.”

The title spoofs Weir of Hermiston, an unfinished 1896 novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894). The lyrics make no reference to the story, which follows a young laird’s romantic journey after ex-communicating from his family in early 19th-century Edinburgh, where the Hermiston hamlet lies to the west.

A5. “Rope Ladder to the Moon”

2:54 |

You asked me to a party
To a house just by the moon
You gave me silver loving
The end was all too soon

You asked me to the theatre
In a place quite near the sun
You gave me golden sunbeams
You act was all in fun

Rope ladder to moon!

You asked me to a meeting
In a cottage in the snow
You gave me central heating
I can’t forget the glow

You asked me to a weekend
Down by the stormy sea
You took me to a ceremony
And the sacrifice – was me!

You asked me to a stromcloud
Up near the rainbow’s end
Then you threw away the ladder
And gave me to your friend

You took me to a prison
And you said its chief was me
Then you locked me deep inside you
And thew away the key

Rope ladder to the moon!

B1. “The Ministry of Bag”

2:49 |

It’s all blues and no dinner
At the Ministry of Bag
The steaks are getting thinner
The office is a drag
It’s all hills and no mountain
In the cupboard of the Few
The soda has no fountain
The coal gets in the dew

It’s all chief and no father
Down the avenue of lane
The soap has lost its lather
The loves gone down the drain
It’s all time and no future
At the Department of Breath
The clothes ain’t made to suit you
The peas are boiled to death

It’s hang the girls and young men
On the ropes of tweedy mind
The speedy sneaky tonguemen
Have left them all behind
It’s all tripe and no liver
At the cafe of the Neat
The cooks jumped in the river
The menu smells of feet

It’s all swamp and no mosquitoes
Along the stripes of pin
The boots have all the vetoes
And the bags to put them in
It’s all blues and no dinner
At the Ministry of Bag
The steaks are getting thinner
The office is a drag

B2. “He the Richmond”

3:36 |

There comes an affair in the tides of men
When you can’t go back again
Yes there comes a darkness in the affairs of light
When you can’t hold back the night
So you go where your mind will keep
Where the rain plays the restless to sleep
On the notes of a broken piano

O the rivers and the seas and you that ride them forever
They called my name to your darkeyed ranks to leave them never
Yes my name it is written in the sand
And it can’t escape your sweeping hand

There comes a time as tides must come
When they leave, take some, leave some
Yes there comes a wave in the seas of men
When you can’t swim back again
So you go where your mind will keep
Where the wind lulls the restless to sleep
In the beams of the broken headlights

B3. “Boston Ball Game, 1967”

1:45 |

The lyrics offer commentary on conformity, societal expectations, and the passing of time. The song seems to address a younger generation, urging them to break free from the mold set by their predecessors.

Hey, when the time comes
Will you, won’t you
Keep your head in the games
Of the sunshine?

The older generation asks the youth if they’ll stay focused and engaged in life’s challenges.

Well that time has come
And you can’t do what you want
Now your mind is not looking

The youth are now controlled, unable to follow their desires because they have lost focus.

Well hello there baby
If you hate it, hate it so much
Why not leave it, maybe try like me too?

The speaker challenges the youth to stop complaining and actively choose a different path, just as they did.

We who were your fathers
Have shared out all tomorrow’s sunshine

The older generation has taken all the opportunities, leaving nothing for the youth to create their own future.

Time is passing baby
If you let it it will make you
Do what they want

Time will force conformity; the youth will become just like the controlling older generation if they don’t act.

Maybe be like them too
Those who were our fathers
Peer from inside their towers looking

The older generation watches from a position of detached power, judging the youth’s choices and struggles.

Metaphorical Connection Explanation:

The song’s title, “Boston Ball Game, 1967,” is a metaphorical backdrop for the lyrics’ themes of struggle, opportunity, and success.

1967 Boston Red Sox: The “Impossible Dream” season (their first American League pennant since 1946) symbolizes an unexpected, high-stakes victory against long odds. The lyrics reflect this struggle: the youth are being challenged to achieve their own “impossible dream” of freedom and individuality against the formidable “fathers” who control the game.
1967 Boston United F.C.: The club’s championship win that season represents success and achievement. This resonates with the song’s challenge to the younger generation—will they win their own “game” against societal pressures and achieve their own form of success?

The “Boston Ball Game” itself is the “game of the sunshine” mentioned in the lyrics, where the youth are on the field, playing for their future. The “fathers” are the spectators and referees, watching from their “towers” (the stands or luxury boxes), having already played and “shared out” the spoils.

B4. “To Isengard”

5:28 |

And so our time is fields of sleep
And so our bed is endless deep
And so the waves are grass in sun
And so our time has just begun
And so our love moves much too fast
And sun and sleep can never last
Love is lost
Last
But one… but once

The time was ours we never cared
For soaring flights that eagles dared
The air was full of peaceful birds
Your eyes were moist unspoken words
And so our love moves much too fast
And sun and eyes can never last

Fire is lost
Last
But one… but once

Over the hills the good times
Are sitting under grey clouds
And the sound of the love songs
Is being lost in the crowds
Of the magical lessons
That you taught me from the walls
I forgot all the path ways
And I remembered the falls

Remember….

B5. “The Clearout”

2:35 |

You say you don’t want me
Well I don’t want you to go
You say you don’t need me
You shut my hair in the door
You say you won’t have me
You’re leaving my wound all sore

Chorus:
Breakfast is goodnight
Yesterdays are old meals now
Times ripe for clearout

You say you can’t eat it
Well I don’t have any food
You say you can’t face it
Well I’m not in any mood
You say you don’t need it
You’re leaving my head all chewed

(Chorus)
You say you can’t stand it
Well why don’t you let it sit
You say you can’t dig it
Yet you’ll never let me quit
You say you can’t use it
You won’t find a better fit

Tracklist:
A1. “Never Tell Your Mother She’s Out of Tune” (3:41)
A2. “Theme for an Imaginary Western” (3:30)
A3. “Tickets to Waterfalls” (3:00)
A4. “Weird of Hermiston” (2:24)
A5. “Rope Ladder to the Moon” (2:54)
B1. “The Ministry of Bag” (2:49)
B2. “He the Richmond” (3:36)
B3. “Boston Ball Game, 1967” (1:45)
B4. “To Isengard” (5:28)
B5. “The Clearout” (2:35)

Credits:
Jack Bruce — vocals, bass, music, arrangements, piano, organ, cello, guitar
Felix Pappalardi — producer, vocals, percussion, guitar
Pete Brown — lyrics
L’Angelo Misterioso — guitar
Chris Spedding — guitar
Jon Hiseman — drums
John Marshall — drums
Harry Beckett — trumpet
Henry Lowther — trumpet
Dick Heckstall-Smith — tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone
Art Themen — tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone
John Mumford — trombone