Roddenberry's lyrics

[Trekker09]

Sorry if this was posted earlier, thought it was interesting. When Alexander Courage composed the theme score, Roddenberry decided to write words for it so he could get half the royalties. They never recorded or aired this version. There’s just no way to sing the words with the melody, right-?

Beyond….the rim of the starlight
My love….is wand’ring in starflight.
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.

 

[Ixtl]

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[Mr. Laser Beam]

You know what's even more pathetic than Gene writing shitty lyrics that he KNEW would never be used, just to grab a share of the royalties?

The fact that it fucking WORKED.

Should have been tossed out of court from the get-go...

 

[Ssosmcin]

Had he approached Sandy Courage with the idea for a lyric, the composer would have worked with him to create one that worked musically and then could have been used on albums and such. However, I'm sure they would have cut down Roddenberry's royalties even more.

 

[Mytran]

Nichelle Nichols took a crack at singing those lyrics too

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[Kor]

I vaguely remember one of the Star Trek comic books had a scene in which a character sang those infamous lyrics.

Kor

 

[Trekker09]

Wow, amazed there actually were recordings of those lyrics! Still not a good fit with the melody. GR was really scrounging.
Would have been a disaster if they'd made it the opening theme of TOS episodes.

Uhura singing "The Moon's a window to heaven" was so much better.

 

[plynch]

I have sung it at gigs occasionally. We played a private party. They had a lifesize Shatner/Kirk standup. Had to do it. I have the sheet music w lyrics in our book. Because you never know when you might play a party with a Shatner standup in the corner.

 

[shapeshifter]

Uhura singing "The Moon's a window to heaven" was so much better.

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ETA Not Nichols singing, but I like this version too.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Starting with Star Trek II, the movies used Courage's opening notes before each film's main title, and Roddenberry even got a royalty from that. Like he had anything to do with it. But it gave the films a stamp of identity and an exciting kickoff moment.

I have this idea that the cue sheet paperwork and soundtrack albums should have rebranded those notes as "Starfleet Fanfare" by Alexander Courage. And they should have told Gene if he threatened to sue that they'd drag it out and make sure his legal fees far exceeded any royalties at stake.

 

[Ixtl]

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That’s not Nichols singing. This particular rendition of the song was performed by the band “Hiroshima” and is only available on the ST:TFF soundtrack album.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Starting with Star Trek II, the movies used Courage's opening notes before each film's main title, and Roddenberry even got a royalty from that. Like he had anything to do with it. But it gave the films a stamp of identity and an exciting kickoff moment.

I have this idea that the cue sheet paperwork and soundtrack albums should have rebranded those notes as "Starfleet Fanfare" by Alexander Courage. And they should have told Gene if he threatened to sue that they'd drag it out and make sure his legal fees far exceeded any royalties at stake.

I thought Courage got full royalties when they only used the fanfare and not the portion of the tune Roddenberry created lyrics for.

I could be wrong, but I fairly sure Ford Thaxton said that. Perhaps @Maurice or @Harvey can correct or confirm.

 

[mintjulep729]

I have sung it at gigs occasionally. We played a private party. They had a lifesize Shatner/Kirk standup. Had to do it. I have the sheet music w lyrics in our book. Because you never know when you might play a party with a Shatner standup in the corner.

a Shatner cutout?? was this a trek themed party??

also yeah, the royalty grab tracks lol

 

[NCC-73515]

I've always liked the lyrics

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I thought Courage got full royalties when they only used the fanfare and not the portion of the tune Roddenberry created lyrics for.

Nope, GR's estate gets royalties even from the fanfare alone. Note on the back tray card of FSM's Star Trek II CD (2009), the asterisk credits only Courage for the theme quote. But then on the recent LLL CD of Star Trek II, the asterisk credits both Courage and GR. When the question came up on the FSM bboard, Lukas Kendall or maybe Ford Thaxton explained that the 2009 credit was a mistake, and Roddenberry had to be named and paid for co-writing the theme.

Edit: the omission of GR's legal credit continued through the Star Trek Renaissance until it was "corrected" in Intrada's 2012 edition of Star Trek VI.

 

[Ssosmcin]

@ZapBrannigan well, I'll be hornswoggled. Thanks, Zap.

 

[Trekker09]

Robert Picardo sang the lyrics - probably on the touring concert of "Star Trek: the music." Must have been painful for him!

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[danellis]

Before Voyager came out, I had a CD of "Sci-Fi music," that included Gene's words to a different piece of music. The Voyager theme sounded a LOT like that piece of music.

I wonder if I still have the CD somewhere...

dJE

 

[jackoverfull]

I thought Courage got full royalties when they only used the fanfare and not the portion of the tune Roddenberry created lyrics for.

unfortunately no: when an instrumental version of a song with lyrics is used the lyricist always still gets royalties. What GR did was a despicable but really common practice in the 60, for example here in tally Paolo Dossena was known for taking instrumentals, changing the title and then getting half the royalties as “lyricist” (a friend of mine had this done to him in 1968 and he’s still bitter about it).

 

[plynch]

I’ve said this before on threads about this: not defending the practice, but it was super common, in the day. Elvis’s name on any song is a royalties grab. Miles completely took Bill Evans’ “Blue in Green,” on the best-selling jazz album ever, Kind of Blue.

It has been noted Courage did come back and work for Trek after this.

As to who gets the $, it was a work-for-hire. I do not know what arrangement a composer had with the studio, Norway/Desilu, as to who kept the cooyright, though authors must have, or GR wouldn’t have cared, I guess.

When performed publicly or on radio, the publishing company gets half the performance royalty, the writer(s) split the other half. This is why many artists who write their own stuff form their own publishing, so they get both halves.

Sync rights are when your music is synced to other media (ads or tv or film), and mechanicals are when physical copies are pressed. One’s publisher (or oneself, if acting as publisher) negotiates with a company/label, then pays the writer/artist according to the deal he/she has made with said publisher.

Hang on, I’ll go see who the publisher is on my sheet music…

Bruin Music Co, administered by Sony/ATV (which traces roots back to Sir Lew Grade and purchasing the Beatles catalog from Dick James).

The fanfare is not there, and were I a jury or an admin law judge I would rule that it is not part of the “song” as a “song” is commonly understood. Melody and lyrics. But Robin Thicke lost a huge suit by the heirs of Marvin Gaye b/c a recording (not the underlying song) simply sound party-ish and festive like a MG record. Egregious.