Cup Song (Pitch Perfect’s “When I’m Gone”)

Cup_Game Routine_&_Song Lyrics

Cup Song (Karaoke Version):

Pitch Perfect’s “When I’m Gone”:

Origins of the cup song:

The song – When I’m Gone – was originally written and recorded by country music group The Carter Family in 1931:

The cup routine itself is attributed to performer Rich Mullins and it started life as a rhythmic accompaniment for his 1987 song Screen Door:

The Cup Game became quite popular. It even appeared on the 1980s sitcom Full House:

Lulu and the Lampshades decided to pair the Cup Game with the When I’m Gone song and uploaded a video of their performance on youtube in 2009:

Anna Kendrik (the actor from Pitch Perfect) saw a video on one of the social websites. She spent an afternoon learning it and when the Pitch Perfect producers discovered she knew it, they decided to include it in the movie:

And the award goes to…

There are hundreds of inventive (and some not-so-inventive) versions of the cup song on Youtube. Here are a few of my favourite ones:

Biggest number of performers:

Best school performance (Collège Saint-Bernard de Drummondville, K, Grades 1-6 (Primary School), Secondary School and staff):

Our Own Cover Version!

Performed by grade 6 students: