My Cup Runneth Over
Encyclopedia
"My Cup Runneth Over" is a quotation from the Hebrew Bible
(Psalm 23:5) and means "I have more than enough for my needs" though interpretations and usage may vary. Notably, it can be employed sarcastically
to indicate that someone, e.g. one's host, is being less than generous.
song
written by Harvey Schmidt
with lyrics by Tom Jones
, featured in the 1966
Broadway musical, I Do! I Do!
, which starred Robert Preston
and Mary Martin
. The most popular recording of the song was made by Ed Ames
in 1967
, which was a #8 pop
and #1 AC hit in the United States. Another version of the song is performed by popular New Zealand
barbershop quartet, Musical Island Boys.
The quotation has been used extensively in other music. Rap artist Project Pat employed the quotation in its most literal sense when he stated "Patron in my cup runneth over" in his song "I Keep That" from his post-incarceration album Crook by da Book: The Fed Story. Rap artists Eminem
and Jay-Z
have used it in "Run Rabbit Run" and "Can't Knock the Hustle
" respectively, and Eminem
has also used the phrase "His cup just runneth over, oh no!" in the song "Forever
", while actor and musician Drake
used it in "Ignant Shit" as well as in a collaborative song with Eminem called "Forever". Rock musicians have also used the phrase. It is in the opening lyrics of "December" by Collective Soul
and in the opening line of the Alice In Chains
song "Bleed the Freak", while the death metal
band Aborted
include the phrase as a lyric in "Pestiferous Subterfuge" and the virtual band
Gorillaz
referenced the phrase in "All Alone". A variation is also used in the song "So Appalled" from rapper/producer Kanye West's album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy when fellow rapper Cyhi the Prynce says "My cup overrunneth with hundreds," referring to one-hundred dollar bills. This line is also similar to rapper Jay-Z's line in his song "Can't Knock the Hustle" from his album Reasonable Doubt when he too says "My cup runneth over with hundreds." The words are exactly repeated in the song "Manifest" by the Fugees in their 1996 album The Score
.
The quotation also features prominently in the Bob Marley
song "My Cup" and it is also used by Tavares
in their disco
hit-song "Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel
". It also features in the song "Desert Sand" by UB40
and in the Brandon Flowers
song, "Magdalena", from the album Flamingo.
It also features in The Stone Roses
's song "Tightrope", off their album Second Coming.
, while in World of Warcraft
, fictional character Blood Prince Valanar uses the phrase during the "Blood Prince Council" encounter. "Your cup runneth over!" is also an achievement
in Devil May Cry 4
.
on the Australia
n Special Broadcasting Service
(SBS). In the animated series Daria
, the titular character uses the phrase sarcastically in the episode "I Loathe a Parade".
and Hope Floats
.
The phrase is also used as the title for Cherry Whytock's book My Cup Runneth Over: The Life of Angelica Cookson Potts.
The phrase is also referenced by Firesign Theatre on their 1971 album Not Insane, where, in a Shakespearean parody "Anything You Want To", it is used as the double entendre "Your couplet runneth over."
The theatre production Avenue Q
uses the line when Rod expresses how overwhelmed he is at the sight of his new boyfriend that his roommate Nicky had found for him on the internet. "Sweet suffering Jesus! My cup runneth over!"
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
(Psalm 23:5) and means "I have more than enough for my needs" though interpretations and usage may vary. Notably, it can be employed sarcastically
Sarcasm
Sarcasm is “a sharp, bitter, or cutting expression or remark; a bitter jibe or taunt.” Though irony and understatement is usually the immediate context, most authorities distinguish sarcasm from irony; however, others argue that sarcasm may or often does involve irony or employs...
to indicate that someone, e.g. one's host, is being less than generous.
In music
The phrase is the title of a popularPopular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
written by Harvey Schmidt
Harvey Schmidt
Harvey Lester Schmidt is an American composer for musical theatre. He is best known for composing the music for the longest running musical in history, The Fantasticks, which ran off-Broadway from 1960 - 2002.-Biography:...
with lyrics by Tom Jones
Tom Jones (writer)
Tom Jones is a lyricist of musical theatre. His best known work is The Fantasticks, which ran off-Broadway from 1960 until 2002, and the hit song from the same, Try to Remember. Other songs from "The Fantasticks" include "Soon It's Gonna Rain", "Much More" and "I Can See It"...
, featured in the 1966
1966 in music
-Events:*January 3 – Hullabaloo shows promotional videos of The Beatles songs "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work it Out".*January 8 – Shindig! airs for the last time on ABC, with musical guests the Kinks and the Who...
Broadway musical, I Do! I Do!
I Do! I Do!
I Do! I Do! is a musical with a book and lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt which is based on the Jan de Hartog play The Fourposter. The two-character story spans fifty years, from 1895 to 1945, as it focuses on the ups and downs experienced by Agnes and Michael Snow throughout their...
, which starred Robert Preston
Robert Preston (actor)
-Early life:Preston was born Robert Preston Meservey in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of Ruth L. and Frank Wesley Meservey, a garment worker and billing clerk for American Express. After attending Abraham Lincoln High School in Los Angeles, California, he studied acting at the Pasadena Community...
and Mary Martin
Mary Martin
Mary Virginia Martin was an American actress and singer. She originated many roles over her career including Nellie Forbush in South Pacific and Maria in The Sound of Music. She was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1989...
. The most popular recording of the song was made by Ed Ames
Ed Ames
Ed Ames is an American popular singer and actor. He is best known for his pop and adult contemporary hits of the 1960s like "When the Snow is on the Roses" and the perennial "My Cup Runneth Over." He was part of a popular 1950s singing group called The Ames Brothers.-Early life:Born in Malden,...
in 1967
1967 in music
The summer of 1967 is "The Summer of Love" in San Francisco. It also became an important year for psychedelic rock, with releases from The Beatles The summer of 1967 is "The Summer of Love" in San Francisco. It also became an important year for psychedelic rock, with releases from The Beatles The...
, which was a #8 pop
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and #1 AC hit in the United States. Another version of the song is performed by popular New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
barbershop quartet, Musical Island Boys.
The quotation has been used extensively in other music. Rap artist Project Pat employed the quotation in its most literal sense when he stated "Patron in my cup runneth over" in his song "I Keep That" from his post-incarceration album Crook by da Book: The Fed Story. Rap artists Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
and Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
have used it in "Run Rabbit Run" and "Can't Knock the Hustle
Can't Knock the Hustle
"Can't Knock the Hustle" is the third single from rapper Jay-Z's debut album Reasonable Doubt. The song features a beat produced by Knobody, co-produced by Sean C and Dahoud Darien, as well as a chorus sung by Mary J. Blige.-Background:...
" respectively, and Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
has also used the phrase "His cup just runneth over, oh no!" in the song "Forever
Forever (Drake song)
"Forever" is a single by rapper Drake. The song features verses by rappers Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Eminem. The song is released as a single from the soundtrack to LeBron James's More Than a Game documentary....
", while actor and musician Drake
Drake (entertainer)
Aubrey Drake Graham , who records under the mononym Drake, is a Canadian recording artist and actor. He originally became known for playing Jimmy Brooks on the television series Degrassi: The Next Generation....
used it in "Ignant Shit" as well as in a collaborative song with Eminem called "Forever". Rock musicians have also used the phrase. It is in the opening lyrics of "December" by Collective Soul
Collective Soul
Collective Soul is an American rock band originally formed in Stockbridge, Georgia. Collective Soul broke into mainstream popularity with their first hit single, "Shine", which came from their debut album Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid, released in 1993...
and in the opening line of the Alice In Chains
Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1987 by guitarist and songwriter Jerry Cantrell and original lead vocalist Layne Staley. The initial lineup was rounded out by drummer Sean Kinney, and bassist Mike Starr...
song "Bleed the Freak", while the death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
band Aborted
Aborted
Aborted is a Belgian death metal band formed in Waregem, Belgium in 1995. The group comprises vocalist and founder Sven de Caluwé, guitarists Eran Segal and Mike Wilson, bassist J.B. Van Der Wal, and drummer Ken Bedene. The band members of Aborted are from Belgium, France, Israel, United Kingdom,...
include the phrase as a lyric in "Pestiferous Subterfuge" and the virtual band
Virtual band
In music, a virtual band is any group whose members are not corporeal musicians, but animated characters...
Gorillaz
Gorillaz
Gorillaz is an English musical project created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. This project consists of Gorillaz music itself and an extensive fictional universe depicting a "virtual band" of cartoon characters...
referenced the phrase in "All Alone". A variation is also used in the song "So Appalled" from rapper/producer Kanye West's album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy when fellow rapper Cyhi the Prynce says "My cup overrunneth with hundreds," referring to one-hundred dollar bills. This line is also similar to rapper Jay-Z's line in his song "Can't Knock the Hustle" from his album Reasonable Doubt when he too says "My cup runneth over with hundreds." The words are exactly repeated in the song "Manifest" by the Fugees in their 1996 album The Score
The Score (album)
The Score is the second and final studio album by the hip hop trio Fugees, released worldwide February 13, 1996 on Columbia Records. The album features a wide range of samples and instrumentation, with many aspects of alternative hip hop that would come to dominate the hip hop music scene in the...
.
The quotation also features prominently in the Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
song "My Cup" and it is also used by Tavares
Tavares
-People:Tavares is a common surname in the Portuguese language, namely in Portugal and Brazil and other places – especially very common in the Cape Verde islands. It was originally a toponym...
in their disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
hit-song "Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel
Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel
"Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel" is a disco song written by Freddie Perren and Keni St. Lewis. It was recorded by the New England band Tavares in 1976. The song was released as a single from the album Sky High! and was split into two parts. The first part was 3 minutes and 28 seconds in length,...
". It also features in the song "Desert Sand" by UB40
UB40
UB40 are a British reggae/pop band formed in 1978 in Birmingham. The band has placed more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. One of the world's best-selling music artists, UB40 have sold over 70 million records.Their hit singles...
and in the Brandon Flowers
Brandon Flowers
Brandon Richard Flowers is an American musician, best known as the frontman of the Las Vegas-based rock band The Killers. He has also released a solo album titled Flamingo.-Early life:...
song, "Magdalena", from the album Flamingo.
It also features in The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses are an English alternative rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement that was active during the late 1980s and early 1990s...
's song "Tightrope", off their album Second Coming.
In video games
"My cup runneth over!" is screamed as an expression of ecstasy by the fictional character William Bedford Diego in the 1999 video game System Shock 2System Shock 2
System Shock 2 is a 1999 first-person action role-playing video game, designed by Ken Levine for Microsoft Windows. The title is a sequel to the 1994 PC game System Shock, and was co-developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios...
, while in World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
, fictional character Blood Prince Valanar uses the phrase during the "Blood Prince Council" encounter. "Your cup runneth over!" is also an achievement
Achievement (video gaming)
In video gaming parlance, an achievement, also sometimes known as a trophy or challenge, is a meta-goal defined outside of a game's parameters...
in Devil May Cry 4
Devil May Cry 4
Devil May Cry 4 is an action game that was published and developed by Capcom in 2008 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows platforms. The game is the fourth installment to the Devil May Cry series....
.
In television
"Thy cup runneth over" was the catch-phrase of the coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010...
on the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n Special Broadcasting Service
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...
(SBS). In the animated series Daria
Daria
Daria is an American animated television series produced by Paramount Television, and created by Glenn Eichler and Susie Lewis Lynn for MTV. The series focuses on Daria Morgendorffer, a smart, acerbic, and somewhat misanthropic teenage girl who observes the world around her...
, the titular character uses the phrase sarcastically in the episode "I Loathe a Parade".
Other uses
It is used in the movies A Tree Grows in BrooklynA Tree Grows in Brooklyn
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn may refer to:*A Tree Grows in Brooklyn , a novel by Betty Smith*A Tree Grows in Brooklyn , the cinema adaptation of the novel*A Tree Grows in Brooklyn , the stage adaptation of the novel...
and Hope Floats
Hope Floats
Hope Floats is a 1998 American romantic drama film directed by Forest Whitaker, and starring Sandra Bullock, Harry Connick, Jr. and Gena Rowlands....
.
The phrase is also used as the title for Cherry Whytock's book My Cup Runneth Over: The Life of Angelica Cookson Potts.
The phrase is also referenced by Firesign Theatre on their 1971 album Not Insane, where, in a Shakespearean parody "Anything You Want To", it is used as the double entendre "Your couplet runneth over."
The theatre production Avenue Q
Avenue Q
Avenue Q is a musical in two acts, conceived by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, who wrote the music and lyrics. The book was written by Jeff Whitty and the show was directed by Jason Moore and produced by Kevin McCollum, Robyn Goodman, and Jeffrey Seller...
uses the line when Rod expresses how overwhelmed he is at the sight of his new boyfriend that his roommate Nicky had found for him on the internet. "Sweet suffering Jesus! My cup runneth over!"