This is a country song whose basic theme is: if you say or do bad things, they will affect what your children say when they play skipping rope games. So don't say or do bad things, okay?
Henson Cargill (1941-2007) was from Oklahoma City; his grandfather was its mayor in the 1920s. "Skip a Rope" reached #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 but made it all the way to #1 on the US and Canada country charts. It features backing vocals by The Jordanaires, who backed Elvis on many of his early singles.
Cargill reached the country charts a few other times during the 1970s but never hit the pop charts again. He opened an Oklahoma City nightclub named Henson's in 1981 and retired from music in the late 1980s.
Created January 22, 2026.