The song is about a man (Jim Dandy) who rescues women from improbable or impossible predicaments.[2] It proved popular enough that Chase wrote a second song for Baker entitled "Jim Dandy Got Married."[2]
The American English 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".[7]
In 1973 the song was recorded by southern rock 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,[9] and was #131 in the year-end top 200.[10]
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.[citation needed]