[2] Unlike many of his well-known songs, "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover" does not rely on the Bo Diddley beat.

"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", according to Richie Unterberger in a song review.

[3] Percussionist Jerome Green added maracas to the recording, which Unterberger calls "an utterly entrancing rhythm that does much to add to the power of the song".

[3] While noting Diddley's rhythm guitar contribution, Dixon biographer Mitsutoshi Inaba comments on Diddley's "unique vocal style": "He freely uses various vocal techniques: glissandi in a wide range, howling, changing dynamics and tone quality, altering melodic and non-melodic singing.

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".