Da-na-na-na-Dun-daa-na-na: The story behind CBS's famous NCAA tournament theme song

In 1992, CBS Sports held a contest to find new theme music for its NCAA tournament telecasts. Bob Christianson was one of a handful of composers given one week to submit recordings that mimicked the pace and energy of college basketball in March. Eager to beat out the other entrants, Christianson holed up in his brownstone apartment on the west side of Manhattan and began his usual routine to think of a new melody.

He vacuumed the floors, washed the dishes, dusted the windows — anything to resist the temptation to go down to his basement studio and sit in front of his piano. “If you sit down at the piano, your fingers go where they’re comfortable,” Christianson told Yahoo Sports. “You’re going to write something that’s pretty much the same old s***.

” The melody that took shape in Christianson’s head during his cleaning frenzy has become one of the most familiar and beloved themes in all of sports. More than a quarter century later, it remains the soundtrack of college basketball, a song as synonymous with March Madness as brackets and buzzer-beaters. In the original version of his song, Christianson imbues the opening section with the percussive sound of a basketball hitting a hardwood floor.

Then the iconic melody hits, creating interest with a repetitive structure and an emphasis on the note “G” instead of the more expected “C. ” Though CBS has redone Christianson’s song a few times to make it more modern , the essence is the same today as it was in 1993. “Da-na-na-na-Dun-daa-na-na” will still be inescapable for anyone within earshot of a television or streaming device until the first Monday in April.