Originally published at: There were lyrics and Lorne Greene sang the theme to "Bonanza" | Boing Boing
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My running observation about this show was that almost every episode could be titled “The Outsider”. The show was all about bouncing minority or marginalised groups/individuals off of the kind and tolerant All-American Cartwright family, often with some intolerant All-American villains to provide a contrast.
On this same … errr … theme, this famous intro also has lyrics.
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so did the closing credits song for All In The Family. with Carroll O’Conner as the writer.
They only used the instrumental in the show, but I’ve heard that this was done so they (author of the lyrics not used) would get residuals for the song even if the lyrics were not used.
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Same with Roddenberry and the original Star Trek theme:
I wonder how common this practice was.
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ah HA! I figured that was how this trick worked. thanks for posting that.
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Interesting! But did you know the Gilligan’s Island Theme had musical accompaniment?
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To quote MST3K: “It’s alright if I pick a little fight BONANZA!!!”
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Now do the original Battlestar Galactica!
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I’ve heard it sung by Loren Greene, but there’s also The Dead Bonanza song by Heff Smith. I can’t remember much of it, but “Everyone’s dead who used to be on Bonanza” figured prominently into it. (This proclamation is less startling now than it was in the late 90’s, of course.)
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this Gen-Xer is embiggened this day. how did i get this far along and not know that all these theme songs, which are lodged in my head for all time, had LYRICS?? i’m gonna sing Bonanza all day.
Same. That show, Mission Impossible and 6 Million Dollar Man were my favorites when I was a kid.
I remember my mom for a while wouldn’t let my brother and me watch the latter. She also thought it was extremely dumb. Not sure why she couldn’t see why the show would appeal to an 8 year old… 
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Johnny Cash sang it too!
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MASH also had lyrics that did not transfer from the movie to the TV series but instrumental version remained.
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A couple more that never made into the shows intros.
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I bounce my kids on my knee to the theme of Bonanza, but the lyrics I use are about robot horses. My thumbs as the reins or arms, if two are galloping along, seems to be fun for them, particularly at doctors offices when we are trying to keep them from playing with the communal play equipment in the waiting room during a pandemic or ever, I mean, there are sick people there. My kids know the silly lyrics I made up, and know the tune, but have no idea it’s connected to a Western T.V. series that ran from the 50s through the early 70s of last century.
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I think that the theme is better as an instrumental although with lyrics, it really could be our national anthem. 
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The track comes from Welcome to the Ponderosa. My parents had this LP and I listened to the Bonanza theme constantly.
Hoss and Joe and Adam know
Every rock and pine
No one works, fights, or eats
Like those boys of mine
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