Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

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Jim Dandy

First recorded by Lavern Baker (US #17/R&B #1 1956).
Other hit version by Black Oak Arkansas (US #25 1973).

From the wiki: “‘Jim Dandy’ (sometimes known as ‘Jim Dandy to the Rescue’) was written by Lincoln Chase (‘The Name Game’, ‘The Clapping Song‘), and was first recorded by American R&B singer LaVern Baker (‘Tweedle-Dee‘) in 1956. It reached the top of the R&B chart and #17 on the pop charts in the United States, and has since been named one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. Rolling Stone magazine ranked ‘Jim Dandy’ #352 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

“The term ‘jim-dandy’ is Southern American-English for an outstanding person or thing, first coming into use in the mid-19th century and it may itself have come from the title of an old song, ‘Dandy Jim of Caroline’.

“In 1973, ‘Jim Dandy’ was covered by southern rock band Black Oak Arkansas. It hit #25 on the Billboard Hot 100. Lead vocalist Jim Mangrum had already been using ‘Jim Dandy’ as a stage name before the group covered the song. He traded vocals on the recording with Ruby Starr. ‘Jim Dandy’ the first single from Black Oak Arkansas’ 1973 album High on the Hog, the band’s most commercially successful album.”

Black Oak Arkansas, “Jim Dandy” (1973):

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