b13
Subj : Re: Another Emmy for Shatner
To   : alt.tv.star-trek.tos
From : Marcovaldo
Date : Tue Sep 20 2005 01:46:21

From Newsgroup: alt.tv.star-trek.tos

"Graeme" <graemecree@aol.com> wrote in message 
news:1127147873.347191.262380@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
> ]]
> I was glad that he won the Emmy. But I was a little disappointed in the
>
> performance of the Star Trek Theme. I had read that he was going to
> recite
> the (virtually) unknown lyrics, but all he did was recite the show's
> opening
> narration ("Space the Final Frontier ...").
> [[
>
> Be glad he didn't.  The lyrics are awful, and only existed at all so
> that Roddenberry could claim half of Sandy Courage's music money.  Lots
> of shows have lyrics that were never used, probably for the same reason
> (did you know that Bewitched and Leave it to Beaver had lyrics, for
> example?)

And Bonanza:

(We've got a right to pick a little fight, Bonanza!
Anyone who fights with anyone of us, he's got to fight with me!)

I'm actually a fan of Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, but I'm kind of glad 
this was left as an instrumental.

> The lyrics to the Trek theme make no sense.  They're apparently written
> from the point of view of Kirk's wife who's waiting for him to stop
> roaming the stars and come back to her.  Or maybe one of his lovers who
> doesn't know she's been jilted.  Since Roddenberry saw Kirk as
> something of a horndog, maybe that's what he had in mind.  Whoever she
> is, she sort of figures that he's not coming back and that his Star
> Trek will go on forever.  Really wretched stuff.  And badly written.
> There are more syllables than there are beats of music so it sounds
> terrible when sung, and there are bits where a line ends on a high note
> with an S sound, which is notoriously difficult for singers to perform.
> These lyrics were not meant to be heard, they were only meant to be
> paid for.

I have seen the lyrics and am familiar with the story behind them. I agree 
that a "serious" rendition would have been unintentionally funny and 
probably embarrassing. But when I read the press releases concerning the 
"Emmy Idol" competition, I assumed that it would be all in fun. When I read 
that Shatner would be teamed with opera diva Frederica von Stade, I 
envisioned von Stade performing the familiar soprano line that we all know 
and love from the theme, while Bill did his inimitable "Lucy in the Sky with 
Diamonds" delivery of the words. That would have been entertaining. As it 
turned out, after finishing the "where no man has gone before line", he had 
nothing left to do but gaze at von Stade while she did the vocal. Ah well, 
congrats again to Bill.

And at least Donald Trump's duet with Megan Mullally of the "Green Acres" 
theme was worth a grin.

.

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