THE WORDS TO "STAR TREK"

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Alexander Courage composed the original Star Trek instrumental theme song for the pilot show in exchange for the right to receive royalties each time the music was played during the regular season and after syndication. This was regarded as a sucker's bet by most top-notch composers, as they fully expected that the show would immediately crash and burn--both because it was produced by Desilu Studios, which had a lousy record with pilots that never made it into a regular series, and because it was based on a weird science fiction premise.

Two years before the series was released, creator Gene Roddenberry (pictured above) pressured Courage into a deal where Courage would have to share the royalties with Roddenberry if Roddenberry composed lyrics for the song. A year after the show came out, Roddenberry drew up some words to the tune and become legally entitled to half of the royalties. Roddenberry never actually used and never intended to use the lyrics, but the fact that Roddenberry composed them was enough to give him an equal share of the royalties forever after.

When Courage protested that Roddenberry acted unethically and composed the lyrics for the sole purpose of screwing Courage out of half of the royalties, Roddenberry responded with "Hey, I have to get some money somewhere.  I'm sure not going to get it out of the profits of Star Trek."

Here are the lyrics to Star Trek you will probably never hear sung unless you do it yourself:

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.