lyrics star trek

The Star Trek Theme Song Has Lyrics

By eddie deezen | jul 20, 2018.

The Star Trek theme song is familiar to pretty much anyone who lived in the free world (and probably elsewhere, too) in the late 20th century. The tune is played during the show's opening credits; a slightly longer version is played, accompanied by stills from various episodes, during the closing credits. The opening song is preceded by William Shatner (as Captain Kirk) doing his now-legendary monologue recitation, which begins: "Space, the final frontier ..."

The show's familiar melody was written by respected film and TV composer Alexander Courage, who said the Star Trek theme's main inspiration was the Richard Whiting song "Beyond the Blue Horizon." In Courage's contract it was stipulated that, as the composer, he would receive royalties every time the show was aired and the theme song played. If, somehow, Star Trek made it into syndication—which, of course, it ultimately did—Courage stood to make a lot of money. And so did the person who wrote the lyrics.

WAIT... THERE WERE LYRICS?

Gene Roddenberry, the show's creator, wrote lyrics to the theme song.

"Beyond the rim of the star-light, my love is wand'ring in star-flight!"

Why would Roddenberry even bother?

The lyrics were never even meant to be heard on the show, but not because the network (NBC) nixed them. Roddenberry nixed them himself. Roddenberry wanted a piece of the composing profits, so he wrote the hokey lyrics solely to receive a "co-writer" credit.

"I know he'll find in star-clustered reaches Love, strange love a star woman teaches."

As one of the composers, Roddenberry received 50 percent of the royalties ... cutting Alexander Courage's share in half. Not surprisingly, Courage was furious about the deal. Though it was legal, he admitted, it was unethical because Roddenberry had contributed nothing to why the music was successful.

Roddenberry was unapologetic. According to Snopes, he once declared, "I have to get some money somewhere. I'm sure not gonna get it out of the profits of Star Trek ."

In 1969, after Star Trek officially got the ax, no one (Courage and Roddenberry included) could possibly have imagined the show's great popularity and staying power.

Courage, who only worked on two shows in Star Trek 's opening season because he was busy working on the 1967 Dr. Doolittle movie, vowed he would never return to Star Trek .

He never did.

If you're looking for an offbeat karaoke number, here are Roddenberry's lyrics, as provided by Snopes :

Beyond The rim of the star-light My love Is wand'ring in star-flight I know He'll find in star-clustered reaches Love, Strange love a star woman teaches. I know His journey ends never His star trek Will go on forever. But tell him While he wanders his starry sea Remember, remember me.

Star Trek: The Original Lyrics

Jim C. Hines /

Several decades ago, I acquired the piano sheet music for the Star Trek: TOS theme song. This was the classic soundtrack, the original 60s score by Alexander Courage.

I sat down at my piano, opened the music, and was shocked to discover not only the musical notes, but the lyrics . Words written by none other than Gene Roddenberry himself.

I’m sure some of you know about this already, but for the rest of you, here are Roddenberry’s lyrics to the original Star Trek theme:

Beyond The rim of the star-light My love Is wand’ring in star-flight I know He’ll find in star-clustered reaches Love, Strange love a star woman teaches. I know His journey ends never His star trek Will go on forever. But tell him While he wanders his starry sea Remember, remember me.

Wow. Those are certainly…words. They have syllables and everything.

But it gets better. According to Snopes , the lyrics were a way for Roddenberry to claim half of Alexander Courage’s royalties for the music.

“Pressured by Roddenberry, Courage had made a “handshake deal” a couple of years earlier that gave Roddenberry the option of composing lyrics for Courage’s Star Trek music (and Courage signed a contract — unknowingly, he later claimed — to that effect). Roddenberry exercised that option, writing lyrics for the main theme and then asserting his right to half the performance royalties as a co-composer. It made no difference that the lyrics were not intended to be used in the show itself and had never been recorded or released. As the lyricist, Roddenberry was entitled to an equal share of the royalties, whether or not the lyrics were ever used.”

“Courage protested in vain that although the arrangement may have been legal, it was unethical: Roddenberry’s lyrics added nothing to the value of the music and were created for no reason other than to usurp half the composer’s performance royalties. An unsympathetic Roddenberry proclaimed, “Hey, I have to get some money somewhere. I’m sure not going to get it out of the profits of Star Trek .””

This has been your random bit of geek history/trivia for the day.

mg January 13, 2021 @ 2:24 pm

What a schmuck!

Kevin January 14, 2021 @ 8:35 am

Back in the Before Times, when large groups of people still crowded into auditoriums to listen to live music, I attended a live performance of Star Trek: The Music at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto.

The music was supplied by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the show was presented by John de Lancie (“Q”) and Robert Picardo (“The Doctor” from Voyager). The show was very well done, and didn’t take itself too seriously. One of the highlights of the evening was Robert Picardo gamely belting out Roddenberry’s never-intended-to-be-heard lyrics with full orchestral accompaniment.

Beth Hudson Wheeler January 15, 2021 @ 12:12 am

Those are, indeed, words. Several of them.

Fred January 21, 2021 @ 6:48 pm

tenacious D actually does Star Trek live with lyrics, you can find it on youtube. quite cool

Paula March 25, 2021 @ 1:50 pm

Disappointing. The Great Bird of the Galaxy was a nest-stealing cowbird. As for those lyrics… thing he didn’t quit his day job.

Paula March 25, 2021 @ 1:52 pm

Disappointing. The Great Bird of the Galaxy was a nest-stealing cowbird. As for those lyrics…good thing he didn’t quit his day job.

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Does the 'Star Trek' theme really have lyrics?

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Even if you've never seen a single episode of "Star Trek," you probably know the theme song. First comes William Shatner intoning, "Space, the final frontier," followed by his monologue (backed by triumphant horns) about the " Star Trek " mission to "explore strange new worlds ... to boldly go where no man has gone before." The song then segues into an orchestral arrangement with an eerie melody -- is it a woman or some kind of flute? -- and back into the horn blasts. The original series aired more than 40 years ago for only three seasons, but the theme song is a classic and still instantly recognizable.

The "Star Trek" theme is memorable despite the fact that besides the monologue, there are no words -- and that's the way composer Alexander Courage intended it. But series creator Gene Roddenberry did write lyrics for the theme song, although he never had plans to record them or use them on the show. Roddenberry's move infuriated Courage, who swore never to work on "Star Trek" again.

Here's what happened: Theme song-composing work generally doesn't pay very well -- most contracts are royalty-heavy, which means that the bulk of the money comes rolling in per episode. The more episodes that air, the more lucrative the contract. Hopes apparently weren't very high for "Star Trek," because the producers had a tough time finding a composer. They finally hired Courage, who took a chance on the show, which had been running for a few seasons and would possibly make it to syndication, where the big bucks are (little did he know!). The composer and the lyricist usually split the royalties down the middle, but because there were no lyrics, the spoils would all go to Courage.

Roddenberry wouldn't let the money go that easily, though. He and Courage had a handshake deal that allowed him to pen lyrics for the theme song (or so he claimed; Courage always denied it). So during the first season, Roddenberry wrote them, claimed the lyricist title and started to pull in half the royalties. Legal, but pretty shady. Courage never returned to work.

Soprano Loulie Jean Norman went through a similar situation. Yes, that is a woman's voice you hear in the theme song -- but only in the first season. When the producers realized that Norman's Screen Actors Guild contract entitled her to rerun fees, they removed her vocals from the song and filled them in with various instruments.

In case you're wondering, here are Roddenberry's elusive theme song lyrics:

Beyond the rim of the star-light

My love is wand'ring in star-flight

I know he'll find in star-clustered reaches

Love, strange love a star woman teaches.

I know his journey ends never

His star trek will go on forever.

But tell him

While he wanders his starry sea

Remember, remember me.

Lots More Information

Related articles.

• Top 10 'Star Trek' Technologies that Actually Came True
• 10 Crazy Examples of Horrible Movie Science
• How Sci-fi Doesn't Work
• Real Tech or Star Trek? A Quiz.
• Who Said It: Captain Kirk or Captain Picard?
• Deezen, Eddie. "The Star Trek Theme Song Has Lyrics." Mental Floss. Oct. 2, 2011. (Jan. 14, 2015) http://mentalfloss.com/article/28895/star-trek-theme-song-has-lyrics
• Snopes.com. "Unthemely Behavior." Aug. 8, 2007. (Jan. 14, 2015) http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/trek.asp
• Solow, Herbert F. and Robert H. Justman. "Inside Star Trek: The Real Story." Pocket Books. 1997.

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Theme (From "Star Trek: Voyager")

Nic raine , jerry goldsmith , prague philharmonic orchestra.

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Jerry Goldsmith

Jerrald King "Jerry" Goldsmith (February 10, 1929 – July 21, 2004) was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring. more »

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Star Trek: The Original Series creator Gene Roddenberry wrote a set of unused lyrics to the show's iconic theme song for less than noble reasons, alienating the theme song's composer, Alexander Courage. Courage was the second choice to compose TOS ' theme song and incidental music in its first season, after composer Jerry Goldsmith was forced to decline due to other commitments. Largely an orchestrator, TOS was Courage's chance to show he had the skills to create compelling themes of his own.

Courage more than succeeded. While TOS ' full theme song is one of the most recognizable in television history, the opening fanfare has taken on an even larger life, appearing in virtually every Star Trek television series and movie . The incidental music he composed for TOS set the tone for the series with big, bombastic cues pairing perfectly with bright, action-packed adventures of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy). Unfortunately, Courage's contributions to the franchise ended up being short-lived due to an underhanded move by Roddenberry.

Related: Leonard Nimoy Made Star Trek's 1970s Animated Series Better

Why Roddenberry Wrote Lyrics To The TOS Theme Song

During production of Star Trek: TOS season 1, Roddenberry published a set of lyrics for the theme song. The lyrics themselves were saccharine, looking at Kirk's Star Trek voyages through a lover's lens, but that wasn't really a problem as Roddenberry never intended to use them. The Star Trek creator was exploiting a loophole in Courage's contract that stipulated Roddenberry would be able to claim half of the song's royalties if he authored lyrics.

Roddenberry's move blindsided Courage, and when the composer contacted Star Trek's creator , Gene was entirely unapologetic, arguing he had to profit off the underperforming TOS any way he could. Understandably upset, Courage left before production on TOS season 2 began. Courage was replaced by Fred Steiner, who produced the majority of TOS ' incidental music.

Why TOS' Theme Composer Never Worked With Roddenberry Again

Courage's animosity toward Roddenberry endured, and he would never directly work with the Star Trek creator again over the royalty issue. Courage did return to score two episodes of TOS season 3, "The Enterprise Incident" and "Plato's Stepchildren," as Roddenberry had stepped down as the executive producer of the series by its third and final season. Courage was persuaded to return at the behest of producer Robert Justman.

Courage wasn't quite done with Star Trek yet. Composer Jerry Goldsmith invited his friend Courage to rework his original TOS theme for segments of Star Trek: The Motion Picture . Courage would also go on to orchestrate Goldsmith's scores for two of the films featuring the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation - Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection . Alexander Courage deserves a more enduring legacy than he generally gets for his contributions to Star Trek: The Original Series , and it's unfortunate that he's not as highly regarded as some other Star Trek composers due in part to Roddenberry's dubious dealings.

More: Picard Season 3's Music Will Honor The TOS And TNG Movies

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