Albert Salmi, in the role of John Day, sings lines from the traditional cowboy ballad Streets of Laredo. Later, after Day is shot dead by Rowdy, he reprises those lines in the role of the lookalike character Rivers. One passage, "Oh, beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly, and play the dead march as you carry me along," inspired the title of the baseball novel Bang the Drum Slowly. Published in 1956, the novel was first adapted that same year for the U.S. Steel Hour. For that production (and seven years before his appearance on Rawhide), Salmi originated the role of Bruce Pierson, the slow-witted and ill-fated catcher later portrayed by Robert De Niro (as Pearson) in the 1973 movie of the same name.
Twenty two years later Clint Eastwood would star in and direct the film "Pale Rider".
Author of the teleplay of "Incident of the Pale Rider", Dean Riesner later wrote five screenplays for his "Rawhide" star Clint Eastwood, but ironically did not write his film "Pale Rider".