Released October 2011 Recorded June 2011 Length 3:43 | Format Music download Genre Country, comedy Label Show Dog-Universal | |
"Red Solo Cup" is a song written by Brett Warren, Brad Warren, Brett Beavers and Jim Beavers, and recorded by American country music singer Toby Keith. It was released in October 2011 as the second single from his album Clancy's Tavern. It is the only song on the album he did not write or co-write. The song was featured in the Glee episode "Hold On to Sixteen".
Contents
Content
"Red Solo Cup" is about the Solo Cup Company's red style of plastic cups, and their common usage at parties, among other occasions. It is in the key of A major, with a primary chord pattern of A-Bm7-E-A on the verses, which are spoken-word. The final chorus modulates a whole-step upward to B major.
History
Singer-songwriter duo The Warren Brothers (Brad and Brett Warren) co-wrote "Red Solo Cup" with Brett Beavers and his brother, Jim Beavers. The four of them decided to write something that would "make us all laugh and smile." According to Brett Warren, Jim did the majority of the writing. Keith told CMT that it was "the stupidest song that I have ever heard in my life" but also "freakin' awesome."
All four writers sing backing vocals on the song. The Warren Brothers also perform acoustic guitar on it, while Jim plays bass guitar and Brett plays six-string banjo.
Music video
The music video includes cameos from Jeff Dunham (and his character Bubba J), Carrot Top, Ted Nugent, Sammy Hagar, Craig Ferguson, Geoff Peterson, Roger Clemens, Eric Church, Joe Nichols, Lance Burton and Larry Bird among others.
It had acquired more than 600,000 views on YouTube before the album's release. The video surpassed 35 million views as of January 2017.