Have Gun Will Travel

This poster from my sister - in - law Pam
reminds of a little poem that my dad used to quote to me:

"And before the fridge so often,
my poor mind is filled with doubt:
Have I just put food away,
or have I come to take some out?"
When thinking of old songs, one that comes immediately to mind is the television theme song: "Have Gun ~ Will Travel, reads the card of a man."

These lyrics are often in my head, though they're not much help when I'm wandering absentmindedly around the basement, trying to recall why on earth I went down there in the first place!

My brother Dave kindly supplied the remainder of the lyrics:

Have gun will travel, reads the card of a man
A knight without armor in a savage land
His fast gun hire heeds the calling wind
A soldier of fortune is a man called Paladin

Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam
Paladin, Paladin, far, far from home

He travels on to where ever he must
A chess knight of silver is his badge of trust
There are campfire legends that the plainsmen sing
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

As a little kid, with no knowledge of business cards, I merely thought that "Have Gun Will Travel" was somehow part of the very mysterious sounding name of this swashbuckling radio / television hero. In similar fashion, as little tykes, Ben and Sam referred to Kevin / McCauley Culkin as "Home Alone" -- because, to them, that was not only the title of the movie, but also the name of the hero!

The recent movie Inside Out offers an amusing explanation for why some of those old television songs ("Flinstones, meet the Flintstones . . . ") and cigarette advertisements ("You can take Salem out of the country, but . . . ") and early childhood phone numbers (GL-endale 1 0580, HI-lltop 7 5662, 828 - 5761 ) remain forever lodged in our brains.

It's because clever little "mind - workers" are busy inside our heads, clearing out old memories that we might want to keep, along with current information that we might actually find useful. Instead, we are left with a bunch of random silly nonsense that won't go away while the pertinent material that we need to get through the day is nowhere to be found. On many a befuddled occasion, I could almost believe it!