How OneRepublic’s “I Lived” Became NBC’s Anthem for the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs

You may know it as the song that was used to retrospect Mike Modano’s career as his #9 was retired by the Dallas Stars.

You may know it as the final song performed on the hit musical drama Glee.

You may know it as the song that was used to advocate cystic fibrosis.

But why did NBC Sports used OneRepublic’s hit song “I Lived” as their anthem for the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs?

It’s in the lyrics.

When OneRepublic lead singer/songwriter Ryan Tedder penned this song for his four-year-old son, he said, “The whole idea, to quote the late great Robin Williams from Dead Poets Society, is very much ‘carpe diem’. It’s absolutely universal and applicable to everybody…So for every day that you’re on this earth, for every minute that you have, the whole idea is doing nothing less than exactly what you feel you’re supposed to do and squeezing every last drop out of life every day, regardless of the difficulties or trials that you face.”

 

Here are the first two verses and chorus:

Hope when you take that jump, you don’t fear the fall

Hope when the water rises, you built a wall

Hope when the crowd screams out, they’re screaming your name

Hope if everybody runs, you choose to stay

 

I hope that you fall in love and it hurts so bad

The only way you can know, give it all you have

And I hope that you don’t suffer but take the pain

Hope when the moment comes, you’ll say

I-I-I, I did it all

I-I-I, I did it all

I owned every second that this world could give

I saw so many places, the things that I did

Yeah, with every broken bone, I swear I lived

 

But for the hockey fan, the third verse is the Stanley Cup Playoffs in a poetic nutshell.

Hope that you spend your days, but they all add up

And when that sun goes down, hope you raise your cup

Oh-oh-ooh

I wish that I could witness all your joy and all your pain

But until my moment comes, I’ll say

I-I-I, I did it all

I-I-I, I did it all

I owned every second that this world could give

I saw so many places, the things that I did

Yeah, with every broken bone, I swear I lived

 

When NBC asked Tedder to use the song as the anthem for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, he said, “I’m excited to be a part of NBC Sports’ coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs,” said Tedder. “I have always been a big hockey fan, and I can’t wait to watch this year’s games.”

Tedder performed the song solo inside the University of Denver’s Magness Arena interspersed with the actual Stanley Cup and videos of historic moments that make up the lore of the hardest trophy in sports to win.

This video contains the intro used during NBC’s coverage of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, and the closing credits, recapping the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs, that was shown at the conclusion of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.