"This Magic Moment" is a song composed by lyricist

Doc Pomus Jerome Solon Felder (June 27, 1925 – March 14, 1991), known professionally as Doc Pomus, was an American blues singer and songwriter. He is best known as the co-writer of many rock and roll hits. Pomus was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall ...

and pianist

Mort Shuman Mortimer Shuman (12 November 1938 – 2 November 1991) was an American singer, pianist and songwriter, best known as co-writer of many 1960s rock and roll hits, including "Viva Las Vegas". He also wrote and sang many songs in French, such as " ...

. It was first recorded by

The Drifters The Drifters are several American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal groups. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, formed in ...

, with

Ben E. King Benjamin Earl King (né Nelson; September 28, 1938 – April 30, 2015) was an American soul and R&B singer and record producer. He is best known as the singer and co-composer of " Stand by Me"—a US Top 10 hit, both in 1961 and later ...

singing lead.

Original Drifters version

It was recorded first by

and

the Drifters The Drifters are several American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal groups. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, formed in ...

, at

Bell Sound Studios Bell Sound Studios was an independent recording studio in New York City from 1950 to 1976. At its height, the studio was the largest independent recording studio in the United States, and the site of recording sessions that produced seminal hits by ...

in New York City. The Drifters version spent 11 weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and reached No. 16 on April 2, 1960. The session musicians

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller Lyricist Jerome Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933) were American songwriting and record producing partners. They found success as the writers of such crossover hit songs as " Hound Dog" ( ...

hired to play on this record were:

Phil Bodner Philip L. Bodner (June 13, 1917 – February 24, 2008) was an American jazz clarinetist and studio musician who also played flute, oboe, saxophone, and English horn. Career A native of Waterbury, Connecticut, Bodner worked as a studio musician ...

on sax,

Ernie Hayes Ernest George Hayes (6 November 1876 – 2 December 1953) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Surrey, Leicestershire and England. Ernie Hayes was a right-handed batsman, usually batting at No 3 and strong at driving and pull ...

on piano, George Barnes and

Bucky Pizzarelli John Paul "Bucky" Pizzarelli (January 9, 1926 – April 1, 2020) was an American jazz guitarist. He was the father of jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli and double bassist Martin Pizzarelli. He worked for NBC as a staffman for Dick Cavett (1971) ...

on guitar, George Duvivier on bass, and

Shep Shepherd Berisford Shepherd, professionally known as Shep Shepherd (January 19, 1917 – November 25, 2018), was an American multi-instrumental jazz musician, composer and singer. Beginnings Shepherd's father Charlie Shepherd was an engineer from the Wes ...

on drums. The arranger and conductor was Stan Applebaum.

Chart history

Jay and the Americans version

In 1968,

Jay and the Americans Jay and the Americans are an American rock group who formed in the late 1950s. Their initial line-up consisted of John "Jay" Traynor, Howard Kane (born Howard Kirschenbaum), Kenny Vance (born Kenneth Rosenberg) and Sandy Deanne (born Sandy Ya ...

released a version of the song, which became the song's most widely successful release. Their version spent 14 weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, reaching No. 6 on March 1, 1969, while reaching No. 1 on

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

's "''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' 100"R.P.M. 100
, '' RPM Weekly'', Volume 11, No. 2, March 10, 1969. Accessed May 21, 2016 and No. 11 on '' Billboard'''s

Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

chart.Jay & the Americans – Chart History – Adult Contemporary
''Billboard.com''. Accessed May 21, 2016 The song also debuted at No. 4 in the first issue of ''RPM'''s "Young Adult"

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart.Young Adult
, '' RPM Weekly'', Volume 11, No. 4, March 24, 1969. Accessed May 21, 2016 The single earned

gold record Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

status from the Recording Industry Association of America.Gold & Platinum
RIAA. Accessed May 21, 2016

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

In popular culture

The original version of the song was used in the following productions: * ''

The Sandlot ''The Sandlot'' (released in some countries as ''The Sandlot Kids'') is a 1993 American coming-of-age sports comedy film co-written, directed, and narrated by David Mickey Evans. It tells the story of a group of young baseball players during the s ...

'', the 1993 sports comedy film directed by David M. Evans * "

Soprano Home Movies "Soprano Home Movies" is the 78th episode of the HBO television drama series ''The Sopranos'' and the 13th episode of the sixth season. It served as the midseason premiere to the second part of Season 6, which HBO broadcast in two parts. The ep ...

", an episode of ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster, portraying his difficulties as he tries to balance ...

'' * "This Magic Moment", a documentary film from

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

's '' 30 for 30'' about the Orlando Magic * "Selena Gomez/Post Malone", an episode from the 47th season of ''Saturday Night Live'', in a sketch about the invention of the

whoopee cushion A whoopee (or whoopie) cushion is a practical joke device involving flatulence humour, which produces a noise resembling human flatulence. It has also been referred to as a farting bag, pooting cushion, windy blaster and Razzberry Cushion. Histo ...

Lou Reed's version, from a Doc Pomus tribute album, ''Till the Night is Gone'', was featured in David Lynch's film '' Lost Highway'' (1997).

References

External links

* http://aln2.albumlinernotes.com/Atlantic_-_Volume_Four.html {{Jay and the Americans 1960 singles 1969 singles Songs with lyrics by Doc Pomus Songs with music by Mort Shuman The Drifters songs Jay and the Americans songs Lou Reed songs 1960 songs United Artists Records singles Atlantic Records singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles