Like many notions that float through the mind of senior citizens, I have no idea where this came from.

But, bang, there it was. A recollection of the opening of a television show that appeared 50 years ago, soon followed by a fairly accurate recitation of the lyrics to the theme song of that show.

Was the song really memorable? Or do old people have an odd ability to clearly recall something from their youth — as opposed to what happened a week ago?

The series was called Branded and starred Chuck Connors as a disgraced former U.S. army officer.

Connors being drummed out of the army is demonstrated during  the theme song, which also explains the star’s burden in life. And it all is wonderfully cheesy and overwrought … clearly, a song of earworm quality.

“All but one man died

“There at Bitter Creek

“And they say he ran away.

“Branded! Marked with a coward’s shame …”

As noted in a post a few years back, theme songs with lyrics often explained the show that was to follow, in the first few decades of television. It saved a lot of weekly exposition. (Gilligan’s Island is perhaps the ultimate example. “Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale …”)

Johnny Carson, longtime host of The Tonight Show, used to explain time spent on setting up a gag by saying: “Buy the premise, buy the bit.” Which has always struck me as accurate.

And that is a big part of Branded … if you find the theme song interesting/provocative, you are about to invest 30 minutes with Chuck Connors as he goes through the West being asked why he is so damn yellow.

It does seem like a one-trick show … Connors defending himself, trying to avoid those awkward questions in a 19th century world where everyone somehow seems to know him and recognize him. (Take a new name, maybe?)

I also find interesting the cashiering aspect … hat yanked off, epaulets stripped, sabre broken in half. That sort of thing actually happened.

And then there’s that theme song!

The first verse (the one that matters) ends with the camera zooming in on Connors’s impassive yet determined face, as the singer hammers home the premise: “Wherever you go for the rest of your life you must prove … you’re a man.”

The show lasted two years and 48 episodes. Long enough to explore every aspect of his shame, etc., and hammer that song into my head.