Time spent reading a Star Trek script often rewards you with a real gem. For example, I had forgotten that Uhura’s teasing song about Spock and then Charlie in Charlie X was based on an old Scottish folk song. But it’s right there in the script.
The final draft script, dated July 5, 1966, includes this note in the recreation-room scene:
Spock “clearly wanting to offer amends, he thinks…strikes a chord…in Uhura’s key…a song she knows… (the tune is: “CHARLIE IS MY DARLING”) (Public Domain) (Lyrics by Gene Roddenberry).”
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Charlie is my Darling is an old Scottish folk song, or really a few related songs, which tells of the arrival of the pretender Charles Edward Stuart to the Scottish highlands in the mid 1700s. Here is what Wikipedia says about the song:
All known versions of the song refer to the figure of Bonnie Prince Charlie of Scotland (Charles Edward Stuart).
The earlier versions focus on Charles as a patriotic hero of Scotland during the Jacobite revolts of the 18th century, and it describes the arrival of Charles, referred to as “the Young Chevalier,” to the Highlands… A later version of the song by Robert Burns contains lyrics that mean to poke fun at Charles’ womanizing reputation. Burns’ version of the lyrics are, in comparison to the earlier ones, considered to be fairly risqué for the times, with a narrative that alludes to the amorous adventures of Charles with the Scottish women of the towns he visits during his battles.
You can read Robert Burns’ words here.
And here are some renditions of Charlie is my Darling: a well-known version by Eddi Reader, a traditional version by Ewan MacColl, and a fun version by Rita and the Runaways
And here is the Star Trek take on the tune.
I think it is fair to characterise Uhura’s version as “loosely based” on the original, but you can certainly hear the influence of the bonnie old Scottish song. And Gene Roddenberry’s interpretation of it gave us one of the best moments of the original series.
Postscript
The bare bones of the idea that became Charlie X appeared in Gene Roddenberry’s 1964 Star Trek is… pitch. The story was called The Day Charlie Became God. His idea: “The accidental occurrence of infinite power to do all things in the hands of a very finite man.”
Then, according to the fine folks at Fact Trek, Roddenberry worked up two outlines called Charlie Is God in April and August of 1964 and further revised the idea in April 1966. Dorothy Fontana took over the project and created two treatments and two draft teleplays. Fontana was credited for the teleplay and Roddenberry for the story.
Collecting Trek 
3 responses to “An old Scottish ballad inspired the iconic song in Charlie X”
I had read that the Trek version was based on a folk tune and looked up a couple of versions myself last year. Nice work tying the script in. I wonder if Roddenberry received any money from rewriting the lyrics, like he did from adding unused lyrics to Courage’s Star Trek theme?
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I wondered that too, and I do not know. I have some production memos from that episode but none mention the lyrics or any payment.
I would not think he got money specifically for the lyrics, as he reworked a lot of episodes and that was just part of his salary.
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Roddenberry didn’t just pen a springboard for this; he also wrote two treatments called “Charlie Is God” in April and August of 1964. Then, in April of 1966, he tweaked his treatment (and renamed it “Charlie X”) so that it included Kirk, McCoy, Sulu, and Rand rather than the characters from the first pilot. Broadcast standards approved this version, then Roddenberry and Black had a story conference with Stan Robertson, who apparently had extensive notes. Black relayed these notes to Fontana, who then ran with it, doing two treatment revisions (in late April and Early May, 1966) and then turning in two drafts of the teleplay in June.
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