[3] The lyrics follow a standard blues AAB pattern and relate a failed relationship: And I rolled and I tumbled and I cried the whole night long (2×) And I rose this mornin' mama and I didn't know right from wrong ... And I fold my arms lord and I walked away (2×) Said "that's all right sweet mama your trouble gon' come some day" "Roll and Tumble Blues" is one of six songs Newbern recorded during his only recording session.

Robert Johnson adapted "Rollin' and Tumblin'" with the title "If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day" during his third recording session in San Antonio, Texas, in 1936.

On a session for the Parkway label, he provided the guitar with Little Walter on vocal and harmonica and Baby Face Leroy Foster on drums.

[5] Biographer Robert Gordon described the performance as a "standout track [which] could have easily have disintegrated into an overenthused party record".

[10] For Aristocrat Records, Waters sang as well as played guitar with bass accompaniment by Ernest "Big" Crawford.

[5] A recording from May 1968 is included on Live Cream (1970), which is described in an album review as a "searing, rollicking high energy rendition".