Songfacts®:

• "The Cup Of Life" is an English version of "La Copa De La Vida" from Ricky Martin's 1998 Spanish-language album, Vuelve. It was written specifically for the 1998 World Cup of soccer in France, and it became the official theme song, with Martin performing it at the closing ceremony.
  
  The lyrics are uplifting and inspirational, propelled by an anthemic track with layers of percussion and horns. It really does sound like a world party.
• The song connected with a huge global audience far beyond soccer fans. It went to #1 in 30 different territories, mostly Spanish-speaking countries where it was issued as "La Copa De La Vida," but also in France, Sweden, Germany and Italy. It didn't do nearly as well in English-speaking countries, particularly America and the UK.
• In America, when this song was released in 1998, Ricky Martin was best known from his tenure in Menudo (1984-1988) and for his appearances on the soap opera General Hospital in 1994. He had released four albums in Spanish and was a star in the Latin community, but his only US chart appearance was "Maria," which went to #88 in 1996. "Cup Of Life" didn't do much better, peaking at #60 in the summer of 1998.
  
  It did a bit better in 1999, reaching #45 after Martin hit it big with "Livin' La Vida Loca."
• "The Cup Of Life" was written by Desmond Child, Robi Rosa and Luis Gómez Escolar. Rosa is Puerto Rican and Child is an American songwriter of Latin descent; Escolar is a Spanish writer. Child and Rosa also produced the track and went on to write Martin's hit "Livin' La Vida Loca."
  
  In a Songfacts interview with Desmond Child, he explained how he and Rosa crossed paths with Martin: "My friend Debbie Ohanian was the first one to notice him, because she followed Latin music and Latin celebrities. She saw him - I think it was on General Hospital - and then she brought him to the attention of another close friend, Richard Jay-Alexander, and he booked him in Les Miz on Broadway.
  
  So at this point he started having a hit that was produced and written by Robi Rosa called 'Maria,' in Spanish. And that really broke through. I saw a clip of his performance on the streets of Argentina, 100,000 people showed up and tied up Buenos Aires. I saw those clips and I said, Oh, my God, this guy could be huge!"
  
  Child was already well established when he started working with Martin. Hit songs he co-wrote include "Bad Medicine" for Bon Jovi and "Angel" by Aerosmith.
• The chant in the chorus, "ale, ale, ale," is a French exclamation that translates to "here we go!" At the end of the song, Martin also coverts it to Spanish: "Ole, ole, ole."
• Various mixes were released and the song was issued in Spanish, English, and Spanglish.
• The English version has just a touch of Spanish and French at the end that everyone knows: "Un, dos, tres" and "Un, deux, trois."
  
  In this way, it's similar to "Livin' La Vida Loca," where the only Spanish is in the title but it's enough to give the song plenty of Latin flavor.
• Most Americans got their first look at Ricky Martin when he performed the Spanglish version of this song at the 1999 Grammy Awards in a highly entertaining and memorable performances. Lines of percussionists entered through the aisles to join Martin and his team to bring loads of energy into the arena, with some stilt walkers on stage to add to the carnival atmosphere. The general reaction was, "That was amazing. Why haven't I heard of this guy?" And also, "Hey, I like this kind of music."
  
  Martin became instantly famous in America and his song "Livin' La Vida Loca" went to #1 10 weeks later. It opened the door for Latin pop artists like Enrique Iglesias, Jennifer Lopez and Christina Aguilera, all of whom had #1 hits before 1999 was over. This trend also benefited Santana, which returned to form with the album Supernatural, the big winner at the Grammy Awards the following year.
• Martin performed this at George W. Bush's inauguration party on January 18, 2001. Robi Rosa, who co-wrote the song, was not pleased. He felt Bush was a bad choice for the Puerto Rican community and Martin should not have performed.