This is the fourth in a series marking the 50th year of SHP that we’re calling 50 Years 50 Stories of SHP. Everyone who has been involved with Summer Honors has contributed to its overall story, and here we plan to tell many interesting sub-stories about challenges SHP has faced, traditions SHP has inspired, and lives SHP has influenced. Please let us know if you have something to contribute to this series — for example, story ideas; written, video, or audio content; or volunteer time.
For whatever reason, Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend” has endeared itself to multiple generations of SHPers. It first entered the SHP zeitgeist in 1990, when Wiley Larsen turned it into a Flaming Tards song with new lyrics. Then it resurfaced circa 2013, when Creative Writing instructor Gary Dop played it (and sung it) for his students. Ever since then, the Creative Writing class has a tradition of standing on their chairs and belting out the song’s chorus at 11:42 am.
What’s going on here? Let’s hypothesize. “Just a Friend” is a 1989 comedy-pop-hip-hop song that borrows the basic chord and melody of a 1968 soul song, “(You) Got What I Need” by Freddie Scott. It was a one-hit wonder for Markie, who sings the chorus out of tune at maximum energy in between his rapped verses. In the song, the narrator is pursuing a girl who likes the attention and strings him along but won’t go all the way with him. There’s another guy in the picture, whom she claims is “just a friend,” but the narrator eventually catches her tongue-kissing the guy. So, maybe this is a romantic rejection story that most SHPers, maybe especially SHP boys, can relate to. Or maybe it’s the self-deprecating off-key singing – it’s kind of inspiring to see someone get famous even though they can’t sing. Who knows.
Let’s first hear from Wiley Larsen (SHP 1988-1990), who created the Flaming Tards song based on “Just a Friend.” It was about the group’s desire to meet girls (full lyrics below). According to Wiley: “It was probably the worst Tard song we ever did. I had my mom help me figure out the piano part, and I wrote the parody lyrics, but there was some internal criticism around using an instrument, for starters (because all other Tard songs had been a cappella), and then there was no consistency with the verses, some were 4 lines, some were 6. The chorus was ‘You, you got what we need, but we only have two weeks, we only have two weeks….’ adapted from ‘you say he’s just a friend, you say he’s just a friend.’ It might have been ok after a little cleanup, but to my knowledge, the Tard version never was performed again after the 1990 talent show, where it debuted.”
Fast forward to the mid-2010s. Here’s Gary Dop: “I didn’t know Biz Markie was still thriving in the creative writing class. That makes me smile. My memory isn’t the best, but here’s what I do remember: I always liked the song ‘Just a Friend,’ and one day in class, the students were talking about great songs, and I told them they had to hear Biz Markie. Naturally, when it played, I started singing along with Biz’s husky, passionate cry, ‘Baby, yoooou–you got what I neeeeeed!…’ and somehow everyone joined in. It might have been after forcing them to listen to it a few times that they joined in, but either way, we were hooked, and the song became a strange Anthem for a bunch of rural high school kids from central Nebraska. It still cracks me up to think about it. The other oddity that went along with this is that we somehow started standing on our chairs at 11:42 each morning and singing the song together. I have no idea how we ended up at that time, but it was always a grand moment when someone would notice the clock, and we’d stand tall and sing proud with Biz Markie.”