Red Solo Cup


"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 10, 2011 as the second single from Keith’s 2011 album Clancy's Tavern. This is the only song on the album that Keith did not write or co-write. The song was featured in the Glee episode "Hold On to Sixteen". Toby Keith himself called it "the stupidest song I ever heard in my life." Insider ranked it as the 2nd worst song of the 2010s decade. A remixed version by Johnny Mac also appears on the deluxe edition of Keith's sixteenth studio album Hope on the Rocks, released the following year. This is Toby's biggest crossover hit to date.

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 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, 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 52 million views as of August 2019.

Chart performance

Year-end charts

Certifications

Other Versions and Parodies