Just One Victory (song)

"Just One Victory" is the last song on the 1973 album A Wizard, A True Star by Todd Rundgren. Its themes are AbOUT hope, choice, RESOLVE, and perseverance. Written in a recurring verse-chorus structure without a bridge, complexity comes from its rhythmic pattern, harmonic structure, and vocal structure. The rhythmic pattern is such that 4/4 measures are repeatedly broken into accented 3/8-5/8 portions; the harmonic complexity is sourced in major 9th chords as well as a variety of chords using different tonal roots; the vocal structure involves not just standard harmonies, but also a series of backing vocals similar to cheerleaders at a football game ("hold that line, baby, hold that line..." etc.), in unaccented eighth notes against the accented lead vocal 3/8 - 5/8 structure. The cheerleader sequence has the background vocalists sing their lyrics in harmony.

The original recording used a glockenspiel to accent the 3/8-5/8 structure. It is a low fidelity recording due to an engineering mistake, as the tape was running at too slow a speed.

For many years it was a signature song in Todd Rundgren concerts as well as those of his band Utopia (rock band), GeneRally used as the final encore, closing with a long electric guitar solo against a reprise of the cheerleader chorus.