Parsing The CBS Final Four Theme Song
Tonight, after either the Michigan State Spartans or North Carolina Tar Heels cut down the nets as national collegiate basketball champions, CBS will play a montage of the tournament's most memorable moments. As has been the case since 1987, that montage will be set to the song "One Shining Moment." And as has been the case since whatever year it was that I started watching the Final Four, I will enjoy the song in spite of myself. You know how some songs are timeless? "Moment," written by David Barrett, is not one of those songs. The cheap synth sounds, the nursery rhyme melody, the trite lyrics. Ugh. Even Luther Vandross's vocals (last year featured a version recorded by the late R&B singer) weren't enough to de-fromage the song. The soullessly inspirational number always reminds me of the kind of thing that would've played over the training scene in an against-the-odds '80s sports movie (something like the song that starts about four minutes into this clip.
And those lyrics: "The ball is tipped / And there you are / You're running for your life / You're a shooting star." Not exactly subtle. On the song's official website, Barrett, explains that he wrote the lyrics on a cocktail napkin in 15 minutes while waiting for a friend at a restaurant. Maybe he should've kept that little tidbit to himself.
Somehow, though, "Moment" lives on. I suspect that has less to do with the song itself than with the event it's attached to. You get used to hearing certain music at certain times. After NBC lost the right to televise NBA games, I would feel a pang of disappointment when the ABC broadcasts started and I didn't hear John Tesh's "Roundball Rock" theme. That is one ridiculous song. But I was bummed that ABC couldn't find a way to get the rights from the Peacock. A part of me would feel similarly if "Moment" went away too.
But it's not as if there wouldn't be more apt choices. Not to state the obvious, but wouldn't a rap track be better? Maybe something like Eminem's "Lose Yourself"? Heck, what about Cheech and Chong's "Basketball Jones"?
What's your take on "One Shining Moment?" Do you actually like it in the unironic, I-would-play-this-song-for-company kind of way? Or do you wish CBS would pick something new? And also let me know what you think about this: Michigan St. 73, North Carolina 67.
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