"You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover" is a 1962 song by rock and roll pioneer Bo Diddley. Written by Willie Dixon, the song was one of Diddley's last record chart hits. Unlike many of his well-known songs, "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover" does not rely on the Bo Diddley beat. A variety of rock and other performers have recorded renditions of the song.
Original song
"You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover" is based on a sixteen-bar blues structure that "boasts a beat that's utterly compulsive and primordial, but closer to a way-speeded up walking rhythm than to the standard Diddley pattern". Willie Dixon's lyrics use "a series of metaphors of all sorts of things you can't judge by their appearances before landing on the title phrase". In his autobiography, Dixon explained that the lyrics were "his bag 100%... and when I told him about it, he like it immediately". Diddley's original recording breaks the fourth wall by encouraging the listener to turn his or her radio up after the first verse. In 1962, the song reached number 21 on the Billboard magazine R&B chart and number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover" has been recorded by a variety of artists, often with variations in the title, such as "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover" or "You Can't Judge a Book by Looking at the Cover". An early lineup of the Rolling Stones made a demo recording of the song in October 1962. In 1963, the Yardbirds with Eric Clapton recorded a live version of the song at the Crawdaddy Club in London during the sessions that produced the Sonny Boy Williamson and The Yardbirds album. In 1964, the song was performed on Germany's Beat-Club television program by the Syndicats, featuring guitarist Steve Howe. In 1966, folk singerTom Rush recorded it for the albumTake a Little Walk with Me. Also in 1966, garage band Shadows of Knight released their first album "Gloria" which included their own version. The Monkees recorded it their Live 1967 album with lead vocals by Mike Nesmith.
Later renditions
Later versions include those by Cactus, Long John Baldry on his 1972 album Everything Stops for Tea, the Beat Farmers, and the Fabulous Thunderbirds. On January 26, 1972, Jerry Garcia and Howard Wales performed an up-tempo version of the song in closing a concert set at Symphony Hall, Boston. Hank Williams, Jr. recorded it as a duet with Huey Lewis on his 1986 album, Montana Cafe, and Roy Buchanan . The Strypes included a version on their 2012 debut EP Young Gifted & Blue. Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band's seventh studio albumGoin' Home, released in May 2014, includes a version of the song with vocals by longtime vocalist Noah Hunt and guest vocalist Pastor Brady Blade Sr. On January 22, 2018, a cover was released featuring SZA and an eclectic group of up-and-coming artists from a variety of genres for MasterCard's Start Something Priceless Movement. The other artists include The Tracks, Radkey, Victoria Canal, William Prince, Noe Socha, and Ruby Ibarra. They were chosen for having triumphed over adversity to succeed. "Some have overcome a disability, such as Noe Socha who is blind, or Canal who is missing a hand, while others have overcome prejudice, such as Radkey who are a black rock group."
