One Shining Moment


One Shining Moment on CBSFeatured on CBS’s coverage of the NCAA Tournament every year since 1987

“One Shining Moment” captures all the emotion, the last-second shots, all the loser-go-home mentality. I almost look forward to it more than the game… I get goose bumps every time I see the damn thing.
— Christopher Russo, “The Greatest Sports Arguments of All Time”

It is fair to say that I’m still both thrilled & mystified by the way this song has worked out. As a writer, I just write songs…big songs, small songs, funny songs, sad songs, sentimental songs, inspirational songs. There once was a time where I tried to think about whether they were “good” or not. But that time mercifully has long since past…and “One Shining Moment” was one of the first in the batch of songs where I just quit worrying about the value of my writing. I suppose one might draw some conclusions from this.

The whole process of “One Shining Moment” was simply to write about something I genuinely knew about. The lyrics were written on a napkin at a restaurant while waiting for a friend. I went home and wrote the music in 15 minutes. That simple. I tucked it away in my sock drawer for a few months…finally playing it for a friend who insisted I record it (thank you Debby). At that point, I resisted the idea (so much for my judgment), but relented after she offered to pay for the session. In any case, I think we managed to get some lightning in a bottle with the recording, and nearly thirty years later, CBS seems to agree.

On a personal level, I still plain & simple enjoy the song.

David Barrett

available-on-itunes


In the news…

USA Today

USA Today

Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated

Coach K.

Coach K.

Wall Street Journal

Wall Street Journal

New York Times

New York Times

Jim Nantz

Jim Nantz

March Madness

March Madness

Greatest Sports

Greatest Sports

TV Guide

TV Guide