"Jim Dandy" (sometimes known as "Jim Dandy to the Rescue") is a song written by Lincoln Chase, and was first recorded by American R&B singer

LaVern Baker Delores LaVern Baker (born Delores Evans; November 11, 1929 – March 10, 1997) was an American rhythm and blues singer who had several hit records on the pop charts in the 1950s and early 1960s. Her most successful records were " Tweedle Dee" ...

on December 21, 1955. It reached the top of the R&B chart and #17 on the

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

charts in the United States. It was named one of

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...

and was ranked #352 on

Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring song ranking compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2 ...

. The

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

solo is by

Sam "The Man" Taylor Samuel Leroy Taylor, Jr. (July 12, 1916 – October 5, 1990), Sam Taylor Biography ''AllMusic'' known as Sam "The Man" Taylor, was an American jazz, rhythm and blues, and blues tenor saxophonist. Taylor was born in Lexington, Tennessee, United ...

. The drummer on the session was veteran

Panama Francis David Albert "Panama" Francis (December 21, 1918 – November 13, 2001) was an American swing jazz drummer who played on numerous hit recordings in the 1950s. Early life Francis was born in Miami, Florida, on December 21, 1918. His father was ...

. The backing vocals are provided by Atlantic's in-house backing group at the time, the Cues (credited as the Gliders), consisting of first tenor Abel DeCosta, second tenor Ollie Jones (formerly of

the Ravens The Ravens were an American R&B vocal group, formed in 1946 by Jimmy Ricks and Warren Suttles. They were one of the most successful and most influential vocal quartets of the period, and had several hits on the R&B chart in the late 1940s and e ...

), bass Edward Barnes, and baritone

Winfield Scott Winfield Scott (June 13, 1786May 29, 1866) was an American military commander and political candidate. He served as Commanding General of the United States Army from 1841 to 1861, and was a veteran of the War of 1812, American Indian Wars, Mexica ...

Background

The song is about a man (Jim Dandy) who rescues women from improbable or impossible predicaments. It proved popular enough that Chase wrote a second song for Baker entitled "Jim Dandy Got Married." The

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

term jim-dandy for an outstanding person or thing predates the song; first attested in 1844, it may itself come from the title of an old song, "Dandy Jim of Caroline".

Black Oak Arkansas recording

In 1973 the song was recorded by

southern rock Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country and blues, and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals. History 1950s and 1960s: origin ...

band Black Oak Arkansas. It hit #25 on the pop chart and featured Jim Mangrum (who had already been using "Jim Dandy" as a stage name before they covered the song) and female vocalist Ruby Starr trading off vocals. It was the first single from their 1973 album '' High on the Hog'', the band's most commercially successful album. In Canada, the song reached #13, and was #131 in the year-end top 200.

Other recorded versions

Ann-Margret Ann-Margret Olsson (born 28 April 1941), credited as Ann-Margret, is a Swedish-American actress and singer with a career spanning seven decades. Her many screen roles include '' Pocketful of Miracles'' (1961), ''State Fair'' (1962), '' Bye Bye B ...

recorded a version on her 1962 album '' The Vivacious One''. *The song is the B-side to

James Reyne James Michael Nugent Reyne Order of Australia, OAM (born 19 May 1957) is an Australian musician. He achieved fame as the lead singer of Australian Crawl, and subsequently went on to a successful solo career. Biography Early years Reyne was born ...

's 1989 single, " One More River".

Popular culture

*The song was featured in the 1972

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

film ''

Pink Flamingos ''Pink Flamingos'' is a 1972 American surrealist independent black comedy film by John Waters. It is part of what Waters has labelled the "Trash Trilogy", which also includes '' Female Trouble'' (1974) and '' Desperate Living'' (1977). The f ...

''. *The Black Oak Arkansas recording of the song was used in the 1993 film '' Dazed and Confused''. *A version by the Wright Brothers Band was used in the 1987 film '' Overboard''. *In the early-to-mid 2000s, a used car lot called J. D. Byrider produced a version replacing "Jim Dandy" with "JD" to advertise that they would "rescue" buyers with bad credit. * Also featured in the 1987 movie "The Big Town" starring Matt Dillon

References

1957 singles 1973 singles LaVern Baker songs Songs written by Lincoln Chase 1957 songs Atlantic Records singles Atco Records singles Songs about fictional male characters {{1950s-single-stub