  These lectures trace the origin of string theory as a theory of hadronic
interactions (predating QCD itself) to the present ideas on how the QCD string
may arise in Superstring theory in a suitably deformed background metric. The
contributions of 'tHooft's large Nc limit, Maldacena's String/Gauge duality
conjecture and lattice spectral data are emphasized to motivate and hopefully
guide further efforts to define a fundamental QCD string.
