"Look on Yonder Wall" was performed as a mid-tempo twelve-bar blues, with a recurrent post-World War II theme.

[1] When the husband is discharged, the narrator ponders his fate: Now baby I've been worried, ever since victory day Every time I pick up the paper, your man is comin' this a way Look on yonder wall, hand me down my walkin' cane Jazz Gillum, with whom the song is often associated, recorded a version on February 18, 1946,[2] four months after Clark.

[6] The session took place at Cosimo Matassa's J&M Studios in New Orleans, Louisiana; backing James on vocal and guitar are Sammy Myers on harmonica, Johnny "Big Moose" Walker on piano, Sammy Lee Bully on bass, and King Mose on drums.

Most artists who recorded "Look on Yonder Wall" after James follow his arrangement, but the songwriter credits vary.

[9][10] Junior Wells with Buddy Guy recorded it for their influential 1965 album Hoodoo Man Blues.

Johnny Winter and Stevie Ray Vaughan each recorded versions for their respective albums Guitar Slinger (1984) and The Sky Is Crying (1989, released 1991).