David Barrett - One Shining Moment Lyrics


David Barrett Lyrics

One Shining Moment Lyrics
(Here for Luther Vandross' version)

The ball is tipped
And there you are
You're running for your life
You're a shooting star
And all the years
No one knows
Just how hard you worked
But now it shows...
(In) One shining moment, it's all on the line
One shining moment, there frozen in time

But time is short
And the road is long
In the blinking of an eye
Ah, that moment's gone
And when it's done
Win or lose
You always did your best
Cuz inside you knew...
(That) One shining moment you reached deep inside
One shining moment, you knew you were alive

Feel the beat of your heart
Feel the wind in your face
It's more than a contest
It's more than a race...

And when it's done
Win or lose
You always did your best
Cuz inside you knew...
(That) One shining moment, you reached for the sky
One shining moment, you knew
One shining moment, you were willing to try
One shining moment...

One Shining Moment Info:

• The song is about the NCAA Men's College Basketball Championship. It's traditionally played at the end of CBS and TBS's coverage of the championship game of the tournament. The song is played as the winning team's players cut down the nets, to a montage of highlights from the tournament.

• Barrett wrote the song after a failed attempt to win over a waitress after watching Larry Bird highlights at a bar in spring of 1986. His explanation of how great Larry Bird got him nowhere, but the next morning Barrett was still inspired by Bird, so he scribbled the lyrics for "One Shining Moment" on a napkin in 20 minutes while waiting for a friend to meet him for brunch.

• When Barrett bumped into high school friend and then-Sports Illustrated writer Armen Keteyian at a party in New York in June 1986, he happened to mention the song about basketball he'd just recorded. Barrett sent Keteyian a copy of the song a few months later and didn't think much of it again until CBS Sports' Doug Towey called Barrett's home phone later that winter.

• CBS planned to use after the 1987 Super Bowl, but saved it for the Final Four. Since then it's been played every year.

• Barrett was the original artist (1987-1993, 2000-2002), but CBS has also broadcast remakes by Teddy Pendergrass (1994–1999) and Luther Vandross (2003–2009, 2011–)



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