Some Memories Of Playing Double Dutch And/Or Hearing Malcolm McLaren's "Double Dutch" Song Outside Of The United States (with demographic information)

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision - May 10, 2022

This pancocojams post presents a compilation of comments from various internet sites about people's memories of playing Double Dutch* or hearing Malcolm Mclaren's 1983 "Double Dutch" song (record) outside of the United States.

These comments include information about the commenter's geographic location and/or when they remembered first playing street Double Dutch or first hearing Malcolm McLaren's Double Dutch record. I've highlighted that song and its original video in this post because most of the online comments from outside of the United States about Double Dutch that I've come across are from  YouTube videos' discussion threads about that Malcolm McLaren record.  

A pancocojams post about Malcolm McLaren's "Double Dutch" song will be published shortly and the link for that post will be included here. I've highlightd that record in this post oshowcased that record

* Unlike the pancocojams post about memories of "Double Dutch" in the United States, this post includes comments about the sports competition form of Double Dutch as well as the recreational forms of that activity.

The content of this post is presented for historical and socio-cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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This post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series on Double Dutch.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/05/some-memories-of-double-dutch-in-united.html for the closely related pancocojams post entitled "Some Memories Of Double Dutch In The United States (with information about the commenter's city, state, and/or year they remember Double Dutching)."

Also, click the tag that is found at the bottom of this post for more pancoocjams posts in this series.

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SELECTED COMMENTS ABOUT MEMORIES OF PLAYING DOUBLE DUTCH OR HEARING MALCOLM MCLAREN'S DOUBLE DUTCH RECORD OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES

The discussion threads that are quoted in this post are given in no particular order. Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.

This compilation includes most of but not all of the online discussion thread comments that I've found on this subject.

I've included a few comments in this post that mention "French skipping". I've also included my question and some quotes about "French skipping" in this pancocojams post's comment section below.  

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Discussion thread #1
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ4jMSCBswY Malcolm Mclaren Presents Double Dutch.wmv, published by MalcolmMclarenMusic, Apr 11, 2011

2016

1. Rachel Baker
"I grew up in Dublin.. the whole street would get skipping :-) happy days !!!"
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2. Jean Kavanagh, 2017
"Us few Carlow girls tried. I was sh&t*. 4 jumps. Plus we used an electric cable wire so when it hit you it left welts. Ah, good days...  😅"
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* This word is fully spelled out in this comment.

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3.  Rachel Baker, 2017
"Jean Kavanagh Aww bless ya bb... Still great times. I had a few bruises haha;-)"

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4. Jean Kavanagh, 2017
"Rachel Baker I wouldn't be trying it now!  😅"
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5. Mark Anthony Bent, 2018
"I Remember My Cousins In The Northside Of Dublin Doing This . Amazing . Great Years 😊"

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2017

6 .Lord Red
"No one in the UK had heard if double Dutch until Malcolm McLaren brought this out.He was a genius"

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7. Waldo van Dungen
"As a dutchman, I did this at school. Now I get the idea of double dutch. Malcolm thanks for this getting this idea as I did as a schoolboy on music."

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8. Max Marshall
"Bloody hell i watched girls in school in Scotland try this but those double Dutch league girls can not be beaten. ❤"

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9. Mindrolling
"Well Malcolm I introduced it into my gymnastics team in Australia for a while in 1982/1983.

It was fun."

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10. Adam Wole
"Greetings From Ethiopia!I grew up humming this tune since end of '90s.gr8 to discover it!!"

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11. bagremhosva
"Proper South African music at its finest.When it came out i remember my mum saying listen to this American guy playing our music.I remember doing the ropes with my mum and sisters"

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2018

12. Kathleen Garvey
"Love this, reminds me when the whole street would skip all day every day through the summer in Ireland.

 And how South African is that beat and rhythm!!"

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13. Azmarino99
"Believe me or not it took me long time on searching this video. I got it today after watching it 28 years ago for the last time. Then, I was a kid in Africa & didn't know the song or the singer but it was always in my mind. I missed my childhood 😢

I wish if time can go back & reunite with all my family in one table for meal. Those who has experienced it can only know it. The laughter & the love, the caring parents, oh gosh! I really miss it."

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14. David Harrison
"always reminds me of my mam . born 1926 . she used to love doing double dutch in the street with elastic bands joined together . dirt poor but always happy.  shr loved watching this . used to do it with her grand kids to show them how . great times mam rip ."
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This comment is an exception from my rule (about this post) of only including comments tha mention a nation or city or an organization outside of the United States. However, the use of the referent "mam" for mother strongly suggests to me that this commenter isn't from the United States. My guess is that this commenter is from the United Kingdom.

In another comment in that discussion thread, David Harrison wrote that his mother did this in the 1930s and called the type of skipping “French skipping”.

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2019

15. Tesfaye Desalegn
"This song was used to play on TV when i was just a kid in the 80s' whenever African cup of nations was aired. Searched for it for a long time."

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16. Toool
"Being from the cold north of denmark, I felt hella proud upon talking with an american lady whom questioned her double dutch of the day XD i felt in on the gag, as I too did the double dutch. 🍻"

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17. Samson Mwaka
"Reminds me way back in 1985(I thinK) at Mwiri Primary School. Life was simple. Nice Song"
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Mwiri Primary School is in Eastern Uganda https://mapcarta.com/W283595787

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18.andycabs102
"I am 54 and when a kid I loved skipping and we also did the double ropes. We also had a game with many elastic bands tied around 2 peoples ankles and you had to perform different tasks - innocent times - rather than kids now who are hooked on video games and their phones."
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Re-reading this comment, I notice that it doesn't mention a city or nation outside of the United States. However, I'm glad that I included it because it adds some information that might help clarify my question about whether the terms "French skipping" and "elastics" always mean the same thing, meaning were they played with two twirling ropes and not "just" with rubber bands tied to two people's ankles. (Notice that andycabs102 mentioned double ropes and then wrote "We also* had a game with many elastic bands tied around 2 peoples ankles"... 

*I added the bold font to highlight this world.

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19. Jenny Caffrey
"We used to french skip as it was called in Ireland back in the day.  I was ok my sister was great.  To be honest the hardest part was turning the two ropes without catching the skipper.  You could be murdered for less lolzz"

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2020

20. Gerard Boer
"Het werd door Nederlandse immigranten naar New York meegebracht,

Amerikaanse meisjes zagen het en noemden het Double Dutch.

 Ook omdat er met twee touwen gesprongen werd."
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Google translate from Dutch to English:
"It was brought to New York by Dutch immigrants,

American girls saw it and called it Double Dutch.

  Also because they jumped with two ropes."

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21. Yonathan Negash
"80s and 90s Ethiopians, where u at??...this made our childhood

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22. Jake Blues
"Remember  skipping in the street in the late 6t,s with 2 ropes starting with 1 person with others joining in great times as a kid but we didn't  call it dutching , in manchester England"
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"6t's" is probably a typo for "60s".

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23. nseight
"What A wonderful video* I played this game when I was wee (age ?6-9-ish) before seeing any video. I live in Scotland. I wonder how (I believe through exploration & play ) as children do across the world. Malcolm Mclaren is not my favorite person for many reasons.This by no means detracts from the making of this wonderful* video.   :-)  xx"

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24. nseight
"oh,forgot-born 1971"

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25. Michael Okere
"In the 80's they'd play this at children's parties in Nigeria and we'd all dance and sing...

You are looking at the solution to end racism right here."

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26. itsjemmabond
"Lol, I'm Nigerian too, and I remember watching this on NTA"

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27. Girum Amha
"I remember this song was used for the opening theme of many african cup of nation tournaments for years"

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28. Cheekychops 2002
"Last year of primary school in U.K., 1983 watched this on Top of the pops. The next day we took our mums washing lines down after school and tried it! Every kid tried it. On the Saturday off to get the vinyl single. Played that record to death. Never saw anything like this in U.K." 

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29. Jenny Caffrey
"We used to french skip as it was called in Ireland back in the day.  I was ok my sister was great.  To be honest the hardest part was turning the two ropes without catching the skipper.  You could be murdered for less lolzz"

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2021

30. Goudhaantje
"I am Dutch, now 58 and still stepping on the ropes."

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Discussion #2
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt6Co7EMNCU Malcolm McLaren - Double Dutch. published by VitaminQT, Jun 29, 2007

1. thefentiger1961, 2008
"I just love it - brings back so many memories.  A good friend used to have a double dutch team and they used to go to carnivals and skip through the streets absolutly brilliant. (UK)"

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2. heloise121, 2009
"Same with my Catholic School in Somerset in the late 70s we skipped to rhythms we heard in the playground and i remember a us girl taught us too."
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"Somerset" = a county in England

"us" = "USA" the United  States

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3. duskejw, 2009
"remember this in the johannesburg clubs in 84 -85, real dingy but such a fantastic vibe..."
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"Johannesburg" = a large city in the nation of South Africa

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4. We Are Smarty Lamps, 2009
"This was the playground craze of my youth, and I'm not black or live inNew York or Soweto. We did it in Chudleigh, Devon, UK. Just extreme(ly good) Skipping, us girls love it."
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"Soweto" = a township of Johannesburg

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5. Christine Nakawuka, 2021
"This song was big in Africa. Was so young in kindergarten and it's been decades since I last saw it. Going to show it to my kids it was the best for our generation."

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Discussion #3
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STCTCgQ3XJU Malcolm McLaren Double Dutch1983. henrikssali. Jan 7, 2013

1. Andreas Christmann, 2020
"Been 14 yrs old when I saw this the first time. German TV show called "Wetten Dass...". Absolutely impressing 😊👍"

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Discussion #4
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAtuAqZVEaE The Boyoyo Boys - Puleng, published by TylerHillMusic, Aug 21, 2020

1. BritStang, 2021
"When I was a kid in the 70's, growing up in Kwa-Zulu, this song could be heard drifting out of transistor radios everywhere. It is the soundtrack of my youth. I had no idea what it was called or who it was by. I fell down a bizarre internet rabbit hole today, happened to look up Malcolm Mclaren on Wikipedia to see reference to this song. Then found this on youtube. Thank you so much for uploading. I have just spent the most unexpectedly delightful couple of minutes reliving a long lost age in a far away land."
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"Kwa-Zulu" (meaning "The place of the Zulus" in the isiZulu language) is an old name for a province in the nation of South Africa. In 1994, that province was merged with the province of Natal to form KwaZulu-Natal. 

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Discussion #5
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRdwTxMeTL8  Thrilling To Watch Top Double Dutch Teams Compete published by David Hoffman, no publishing date given, but the oldest comments are  from 2014

Janae Jones, 2019
"Wow what yr is this? Late 80’s I’m guessing... I remember my mom teaching me and my sis how to double Dutch early 90’s. She said her and her friends grew up double dutching on the block in the Bronx. By the time she taught us we were living in Co. We taught our friends (white friends) and started a trend in Webster Elementary and then brought it to Germany...lol I’m not saying we actually did but no one else was double dutching around us at that time 😁"
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"Co" = Colorado (USA)
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Discussion #6
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDOBcBKRENw doubledutch flash freestyle by ebene, published by jonathan mahoto, Mar 24, 2011
1. Jacob, 2011

"I know those guys!  Ebene Double Dutch From France!"

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2. Josefine Ottow, 2012
"i'm 11 And i come from denmark xD i LOVE jump rope. and i have some friend's there love it tooooo.It would be nice if the made ​​a video how to make it."

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3. KINFINITYYY, 2013
"y'all know they saw that movie Jump In on Disney and decided to start this."

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2. Alex Drennen, 2017
"That movie inspired my double dutch

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4.Pyt Dee,2018
"Double Dutch has been a thing for years it wasn’t created because of jump in"

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5.Célia, 2019
"@Pyt Dee  to be fair it's not well known in France (basic rope sure but not double dutch). The movie Jump in did help make it known to most people here."
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Here's some information about the movie Jump In! 
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jump_In!
"Jump In! is a 2007 Disney Channel Original Movie, which premiered on January 12, 2007. It was released on Disney Channel UK on April 27, 2007. The film, starring Corbin Bleu and Keke Palmer, revolves around a young boxer, Izzy Daniels (Bleu), who trains to follow in his father's footsteps by winning the Golden Glove. When his friend, Mary (Palmer), asks him to substitute for a team member in a Double Dutch tournament, Izzy discovers his new love for the sport. At the same time, he discovers true love in Mary and he deals with the conflict between him and his father about boxing.[1] Filming took place from June–July 2006 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada."

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6. Matt Laurence, 2018 [This comment was written in response to DDCrew's comment that they wished there were English subtitles so they could understand what the French interviewer and the French Double Dutch team said]

"@DD CREW Basically the interviewer asked if they thought what they did resembled the "traditional" double dutch. He said, no I don't think it's similar because the traditional is much more simple and was performed by kids. He said that in modern France, it's much more athletic and advanced, now done by people in their late 20's and that there's a lot of free information that anybody can find on the internet. That the information is out there for anybody that wants to learn double dutch"

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7. Matt Laurence, 2018
"He also said in the beginning that they have double dutched all over the world, Australia, brazil, Africa, North America and of course France"

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