"You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover" is a 1962 song by rock and roll pioneer Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley

Ellas Otha Bates , known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter , and inventor...

. Written by Willie Dixon

Willie Dixon

William James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters...

, the song was one of Diddley's last record chart hits. "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover" has been recorded by a variety of rock and other performers.

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 1962, the song reached #21 in the Billboard R&B chart and #48 in the Pop chart

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

.

Other versions

An early lineup of The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

 made a demo recording of the song in October 1962. In 1963, The Yardbirds

The Yardbirds

- Current :* Chris Dreja - rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Jim McCarty - drums, backing vocals * Ben King - lead guitar * David Smale - bass, backing vocals...

 with Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton

Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...

 recorded a live version of the song at the Crawdaddy Club

Crawdaddy Club

The Crawdaddy Club was a 1960s music venue in Richmond, Surrey, England. Several other seminal British blues and rhythm and blues acts also played there....

 in London during the sessions that produced the Sonny Boy Williamson and The Yardbirds

Sonny Boy Williamson and The Yardbirds

Sonny Boy Williamson & the Yardbirds is a live album by Chicago blues veteran Sonny Boy Williamson II backed by English blues-rock band The Yardbirds...

album. In 1964, the song was performed on Germany's Beat-Club

Beat-Club

Beat-Club was a German music program that ran from September 1965 to December 1972. It was broadcast from Bremen, Germany on Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen, the national public TV channel of the ARD, and produced by one of its members, Radio Bremen, later co-produced by WDR following the 38th episode...

television program by The Syndicats

The Syndicats

The Syndicats were an English group, who were Steve Howe's first band. Their three singles on Columbia were produced by Joe Meek. When lead guitarist Howe left for Tomorrow in 1965, he was replaced by Ray Fenwick. Fenwick played lead guitar on the band's most famous song "Crawdaddy Simone"...

, featuring guitarist Steve Howe

Steve Howe (guitarist)

Stephen James "Steve" Howe is an English guitarist, known for his work with the progressive rock group Yes...

. It was also regularly performed live by The Monkees

The Monkees

The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...

 and appeared on their Live 1967

Live 1967

Live 1967 is a live album by The Monkees, compiled from show dates on their 1967 United States tour. The songs mostly feature the Monkees themselves singing and playing, although the "solo spots" for each member feature music by opening act The Sundowners.In 2001, Rhino HandMade Records released...

album with lead vocals by Mike Nesmith. Later versions include those by Cactus

Cactus (band)

Cactus is an American hard rock supergroup, formed in 1970.-Biography:Cactus was initially conceived as early as late 1969 by the Vanilla Fudge rhythm section of bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice with guitarist Jeff Beck and Xylophone player Adele Smitchell acted as the counterpart and...

 (1970 Cactus

Cactus (Cactus album)

Cactus is the first album by the American hard rock supergroup Cactus, released in 1970 under the Atco label. It includes original songs as well as cover of Mose Allison's version of a blues standard, "Parchman Farm" and another one, Willie Dixon's "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover".- Track...

) and The Fabulous Thunderbirds

The Fabulous Thunderbirds

The Fabulous Thunderbirds are an American, Grammy-nominated Blues rock band, formed in 1974.-Career:After performing for several years in the Austin, Texas blues scene, the band won a recording contract with Takoma/Chrysalis Records, and later on signed with Epic Records.Their first two albums,...

(1992 Hot Stuff).