Mulder and Scully (song)

"Mulder and Scully" is a song by Welsh alternative rock band Catatonia, released as a single from their 1998 album, '' International Velvet''. The song makes direct reference to fictional FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), the two main characters of the popular sci-fi TV series ''The X-Files'' who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. In an interview Cerys Matthews, co-writer of the song, explained that while she was not a serious fan of the show, the basic premise of the series matched the concept of what she was trying to express.

"Mulder and Scully" was released as the second single from ''International Velvet'' on 19 January 1998. Originally, it was supposed to be the first single but was delayed due to circumstances beyond the band's control. The song was Catatonia's first single in the United States. "Mulder and Scully" became the group's break-out hit and received a mixed to positive response from the music press; many critics felt that, musically, the song was well played, but that the track's pop culture references were out of place.

The song reached number three on the UK Singles Chart, making it Catatonia's highest-charting UK song. It also became a hit in Iceland, reaching number two, and in Ireland, where it peaked at number 17. A music video was released that featured the band performing the track while Mulder and Scully, played by look-alikes, search the concert venue with torches.

Lyrics and composition

The song makes direct reference to FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), the two main characters of the popular sci-fi TV series ''The X-Files'' who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. Although the title and refrain reference the popular show, the song has little to do with the two characters. Instead, the reference to Mulder and Scully is a metaphor for a relationship being so "strange" that it could be "a case for Mulder and Scully", a reference to the paranormal cases—the titular X-Files—the two investigate on the show. Cerys Matthews, the co-writer of the song, explained that the conceit of the song was "about asking Mulder and Scully to figure out this thing called love. I like the idea of two people going round the planet investigating odd phenomena, in this case love".

Matthews later admitted that she was not a serious fan of the show, but that she only used the line because it adequately described the type of relationship she was singing about. In an interview with the '' Daily Record'', she explained, "I'm not a big fan of 'The X-Files''but I got the line about things getting strange for Mulder and Scully from watching the odd episode". After questioning, she later said that she would "prefer to go out for a night on the town with Gazza and Chris Evans than meet 'The X-Files''stars Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny". Matthews also related that "I'm sure loads of people bought the record by mistake, but who cares? They should be flattered we wrote a song about 'The X-Files''anyway".

Release and acclaim

The song was met with mixed to positive reviews from critics; many reviewers lauded the band's musical composition, but maligned the track for its heavy reliance on pop culture references.
The ''Sunday Mirror'' wrote positively of the song and called it "hard rockin'". Ben Myers from the now-defunct music magazine ''Melody Maker'' named the song the "Single of the Week" and called it "fantastic". He noted that "they've damn near written a perfect pop song. The first best single of the year". Jerry Rubino, host of the popular radio show "Left of Center", named the song one of his favorite "Brit Things". Sarah Zupko from ''PopMatters'' noted that the song was built around "somewhat silly ''X-Files'' references", but that it possessed "hooks to die for". Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic gave the song a relatively positive review and singled it out as an "AllMusic Pick". He also praised the song's "terrific ook but was slightly critical of the "self-conscious pop culture references". Despite this, he noted the band was successfully able to "bring memorable melodies to the ong. A subsequent review by AllMusic awarded the single, by itself, two-and-a-half stars out of five. ''NME'' called the song "little more than fodder for nostalgia TV", written by a "lazy television researcher's imagination".

Cerys Matthews and the band were extremely pleased with the final product, calling it a "better song" than " All Around the World" by Oasis, the single's main competitor at the time. Matthews later said that the lyrics for "Mulder and Scully" were "good, top to bottom". Catatonia later released the song as part of their 2002 greatest hits album, And the song was later included on various Britpop compilations, including the ''Common People: The Britpop Story'' album, and the ''100 Hits of the 90s'' album, released by the BBC
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