Music Charts Magazine® History
– Song for the month of January 2016:
Anna Kendrick
“Cups (Pitch Perfect’s “When I’m Gone”)”
“Cups” is a version of the 1931 Carter Family song “When I’m Gone”, usually performed a capella with a cup used to provide percussion, as in the cup game. It was first performed this way in a YouTube video by Lulu and The Lampshades in 2009 (under the title “You’re Gonna Miss Me”). Composition of the song is credited to A.P. Carter and Luisa Gerstein of Lulu and the Lampshades.
The song became popular after it was covered by Anna Kendrick in the 2012 film Pitch Perfect. That version also became the official theme song of the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament.
The original song “When I’m Gone” was written by A.P. Cater, then recorded in 1931 by the Carter Family (not to be confused with their 1928 song “Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone?”). The song was reworked in 1937 by J.E. Mainer. Over the years it has been recorded by many people including Mainer’s Mountaineers and Charlie Monroe. It can also be heard in the film Dan in Real Life.
Lulu and the Lampshades were the first to perform the song using the cup game for percussion. Their video went viral after a Reddit posting, prompting dozens of other budding musicians to record cover versions of the song using the Cup Clap technique. It was soon dubbed The Cup Song.
Follow Anna Kendrick on Twitter: https://twitter.com/annakendrick47
Read more at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cups_(song)