Jim Dandy in a submarine, got a message from a mermaid queen

Thursday music corner: LaVern Baker (b. Chicago, 1929, d. Queens, 1997) was a powerfully-voice R&B performer in the 1950s and 1960s who enjoyed considerable chart success. After signing with Atlantic Records as a solo artist in 1953, Baker enjoyed 20 top 40 R&B chart singles in the US from 1955 to 1966. Seven of these were also top 40 hits on the mainstream US pop charts. From 1969 until 1991 she lived in the Philippines as entertainment director at the Subic Bay US Marine Corps Staff club for non-commissioned officers.

Written by Lincoln Chase, Jim Dandy was recorded by Baker in December 1955 and released the following year. It was her only R&B chart number one, with 1955's Play It Fair and 1958's Cry A Tear reaching number two. It also cemented a move away from the kid-friendly titles of her earlier singles like 1955's Tweedlee Dee and Bop-Ting-a-Ling. Jim Dandy was the opening track of her second album, LaVern Baker (1957), and it also appeared on the soundtrack to John Waters' 1972 notorious cult classic, Pink Flamingos. Rolling Stone, in its top 500 songs list, rated Jim Dandy the 352nd greatest song of all time. 

LaVern Baker - Jim Dandy (1956)

See also:

Music: LaVern Baker & Jimmy Ricks - You're The Boss (1961)

Music: LaVern Baker - See See Rider (1962)

Music: Ann-Margret - Jim Dandy (1962)