I was 13 years old in 1968 when Henson Cargill, a relatively unknown name in country music, topped the country charts with the Jack Moran and Glenn Tubb penned classic, “Skip a Rope.”

I was getting into music in a new way. And the music was changing in a major way. Pop music was becoming more politically and socially conscious. In a few short years we had gone from “I Want to Hold Your Hand” to “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” to “All Watchtower Time.”

Country music was also changing. One more year, Kenny Rogers would triumph with “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town”, inspired by Mel Tillis in Vietnam. On all fronts in popular music, social commentary was on the rise.

“Skip a Rope” was another early country entry into the “all we need is love” musical movement.

In those days, teen music magazines printed the lyrics of the best songs on the back of the publication. I was becoming fascinated by songwriting: who wrote the song, what do the words “really” mean, etc.

“Skip a Rope” was one of those songs that I found the lyrics for. As a child experiencing major family problems, the lyrics were particularly meaningful and moving to me.

“Skip a Rope” tackled it all: family discord, racial profiling, greed… and I still wasn’t too far from literally jumping rope on the playground and hearing the kind of mean things kids can say, often. simply repeating what they had heard at home. The song rang “true” to me, and I guess to many others as well.

Over the years I have often thought of “Skip a Rope” and hummed it to myself. I couldn’t remember who wrote or even recorded the song, until I learned that Henson Cargill passed away at the age of 66 on March 24, 2007. The news brought back a flood of memories.

jump rope letter

(Word and music by Jack Moran and Glenn Tubb)

Oh, listen to the children while they play,

Now isn’t it kind of funny what kids say?

jump rope

Daddy hates mommy, mommy hates daddy,

You should have heard the fight they had last night

Gave little sister another bad dream

He woke us all up with a terrible scream.

(CHORUS)

Cheat on your taxes, don’t be a fool,

Now what was that they said about a rule of thumb?

No matter the rules, just play to win

and you will hate your neighbor for the shadow of his skin.

(CHORUS)

Backstab them, that’s the name of the game,

And mommy and daddy are to blame.

jump rope, jump rope,

Just listen to your kids while they play,

It’s really not much fun, what the kids say,

Jump a rope, jump a rope.