included the box set Chess prepared for songwriter Willie Dixon. Legacy In his biography, Unterberger includes "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover" as one of Diddley's "stone-cold standards of early, riff-driven rock & roll at its funkiest". The song has been recorded by numerous artists in a variety of styles. References 1962 singles Bo Diddley songs The Yardbirds songs Songs written by Willie Dixon 1962 songs Checker Records singles Sixteen bar sections