'Outstanding' by the Gap Band: The Song Behind the Meme

Every Outstanding Tiny Desk video runs on the same sound: a slow-rolling funk groove and a voice stretching one word as far as it will go. The song is "Outstanding" by the Gap Band, and it was a classic long before anyone put a football coach in front of it.

The basics

• Artist: The Gap Band (Charlie, Ronnie and Robert Wilson)
• Released: 1982, on the album Gap Band IV
• Written by: Raymond Calhoun
• Peak: Number one on Billboard's R&B singles chart in early 1983

"Outstanding" was the album's warmest moment: a love song at a relaxed, swaying tempo, built on a bass line that never rushes and Charlie Wilson's voice floating over it.

Why it never went away

Plenty of number one R&B hits fade. "Outstanding" didn't, for a few reasons:

• It's endlessly sampled. Its groove has been borrowed by hip-hop and R&B producers for decades, so many people know it before they know where it's from.
• It's a cookout and wedding staple. It is one of those songs that gets everyone from the kids to the grandparents singing the same word.
• The word itself. "Outstanding" is a compliment, and the hook turns it into a celebration. That's exactly why it works over people who are having anything but an outstanding day.

The Tiny Desk version

In 2023 Charlie Wilson closed his Tiny Desk concert for NPR with "Outstanding", four decades after the original. With a full band and a row of backing singers packed into NPR's office, he sang it with a grin and laughed at his own ad-libs, and the last nineteen seconds of that performance are the clip the meme is built on. You can read more about Charlie Wilson's Tiny Desk in our separate write-up.

The song in your video

Videos made on this site carry the sound of that Tiny Desk performance, lined up with the edit. The recording is owned by its labels and publishers, so treat your Outstanding Tiny Desk as a personal parody post. Should a platform silence it, turn the clip's own audio down and pick the licensed "Outstanding" from that platform's sound picker; the edit was cut to the song, so the beats still line up.

If you want to hear your own crew sing it, start on the session sheet. If you just want the song, any streaming service has the Gap Band's original, and it still sounds outstanding.