The song is in strophic form: it consists of 17 verses sung to essentially the same music, all with a similar last line.
In Part 1, Phillips gently mocks several Christian denominations for their particular obsessions (Primitive Baptists, Missionary Baptists, A.M.E. Methodists, African Methodists, Holiness People, and Church of God); and in Part 2, several types of people he felt were insincere in their beliefs (preachers who want your money, preachers who insist that a college education is needed to preach the gospel, and people who "jump from church to church").
[1] His own faith was uncomplicated, as these extracts from the lyrics show:[6]I want to tell you, an actual fact, Every man don't understand the Bible alike, But that's all, I tell you that's all, But you'd better have Jesus, I tell you that's all.
The song appears to have been thereafter completely neglected until 1972, when Ry Cooder included a version (with verses omitted and rearranged) on his album Into the Purple Valley.
That, and her choice of title, suggests that she may have learned the song through oral tradition rather than from Phillips' recording.
Although Tharpe's "That's All" had gained an independent life, the recording history suggests that it and Phillips' "Denomination Blues" have merged back into a single stream following Cooder's 1972 cover of the latter song; for example, The 77s' 1982 version uses both titles.