Remembering Mark Snow: A brief oral history of ‘The X-Files Theme,’ from the strange real title to the surprising connection to a Smiths song to the missing lyrics

When you think about The X-Files, a few things instantly come to mind. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson’s paranormal-investigating FBI agents shining their flashlights into a void. The glow of the Cigarette Smoking Man’s cancer stick. The “I Want to Believe” UFO poster. “The Truth Is Out There” tagline. And the theme music.

Composed by the prolific Mark Snow, the theme was first played in the second episode and would gone to appear in all subsequent episodes of the original series, the two feature films, and the 2016-18 revival.