Catatonia - Mulder And Scully

"Mulder and Scully" is a song by Welsh alternative rock band Catatonia, released as a single by Blanco y Negro Records from the band's second album, International Velvet (1998).

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 American 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.

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"