The Ballad of Paladin by Richard Boone, Johnny Western & Sam Rolfe

Original Air Dates: 1957 - 1964 (CBS)

COMPLETE LYRICS

Have Gun Will Travel reads the card of a man.
A knight without armor in a savage land.

His fast gun for hire heeds the calling wind.
A soldier of fortune is the man called Paladin.

Paladin, Paladin Where do you roam?
Paladin, Paladin, Far, far from home.

He travels on to wherever he must
A chess knight of silver is his badge of trust

There are campfire legends that the trailmen spin
Of the man with the gun
Of the man called Paladin

Paladin Paladin Where do you roam?
Paladin Paladin Far, far from home
Far from home.  Far from home.

Only the first six lines were used on the show.  The rest are from the album recorded after the show aired.

Here's a quick question:

Name a cowboy hero you can't even call by his first name without going insane. (see below for the answer).

Thanks to Steve G. & Lee R. for help with the lyrics and Robert A. for an important point of info.

The theme was popular enough to crack the Top 40 in 1962. It went as high as position 33.  It charted with an instrumental version by Duane Eddy who is the number one all-time rock and roll instrumentalist. Enough said.

Answer:

PALADIN.  First of all, his first name is "Wire" - it says so right there on his card: "Wire Paladin, San Francisco" - so to call him by name, you have to go, "Hey, Wire!"

- courtesy of Spider Robinson, Science Fiction and Fantasy writer.