What does “hook and a draw” mean in the Johnny Yuma TV theme song?
Jim & Jan Patton
Anthem, Arizona
I first sang that Johnny Cash song at college parties in the late 1950s: “He packed no star, As he wandered far, Where the only law, Was a hook and a draw, The rebel, Johnny Yuma.”
In this case, Johnny Yuma, played by the late Nick Adams in the 1959-61 ABC series The Rebel, had a wicked hook—either left or right fist—and he could draw his six-gun as quick as a cat.