 The reference to "Dan" (alternatively, "Jim Dandy") dates back at least to minstrel shows in the nineteenth century, and double-entendre had been used in blues lyrics for decades before the song was written.A common reference was to "Dan, the Back Door Man"—the lover of a married woman who would leave her house by the back door—as in a song of that title recorded by Georgia White in 1937.Among the many precedents, but with a different perspective, is "One Hour Mama" by Ida Cox.