When I'm Gone (Carter Family song)
song
"When I'm Gone" also commonly known by its longer title "You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone", is a popular song recorded in 1931 by the Carter Family and credited at the time to A. P. Carter (not to be confused with their 1928 song "Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone?").
Versions
The song was later recorded by J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers and by Charlie Monroe.
Adaptations
In 2009, the band Lulu and the Lampshades combined the song "When I'm Gone" with a common children's game known as the cup game, in which cups are tapped and hit on a table to create a distinct rhythm. This created the modern version of the song known as "Cups (When I'm Gone)" or alternately "When I'm Gone (Cups)".
In 2011, Anna Burden uploaded a version of the song on YouTube that went viral.
In 2012, the film Pitch Perfect included a rendition of the song sung by Anna Kendrick, based on Burden's version. Kendrick's version was released on the film's soundtrack and in 2013 became a charting hit in the United States, as well as on other charts. It also served as the official song of the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
“When I'm Gone (Carter Family song)” enters the record as song. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what When, Gone and Carter can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“When I'm Gone (Carter Family song)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, When, Gone and Carter provides the most credible route into that argument.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q14917249. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1931, 1928, 2009 and 2011.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “When I'm Gone (Carter Family song)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow When I'm Gone (Carter Family song) primary sources, When I'm Gone (Carter Family song) archive and When research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “When I'm Gone (Carter Family song)”?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “When I'm Gone (Carter Family song)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.