Canned Heat – Rollin’ and Tumblin’

A few weeks ago, Lisa posted something on the Monterey Pop Festival with the Animals. After we got our power back on last week, I was browsing through Tubi, and there it was. It’s been so long since I saw the Monterey Pop Festival, I clicked play, and Canned Heat impressed the hell out of me with this song. Alan Wilson’s guitar and especially Bob Hite’s vocal. 

This is their take on an old Delta blues standard that goes back to Hambone Willie Newbern, Robert Johnson, and later Muddy Waters. Canned Heat didn’t try to modernize it too much. They kept the pulse steady, the guitar lines loose, and the vocal right up front, like it was happening in the room.

Bob “The Bear” Hite sings it rough but clear, leaning into the rhythm instead of forcing it. His voice is outstanding, and I know many who would kill to have it. Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson’s slide guitar moves in short phrases, answering the vocal like a second voice. The band holds everything in place with everything going in forward motion.

Canned Heat understood the song didn’t need fixing. They honored the blues structure and let feel do the work. It’s not about showing off licks, just getting the essence of the song right. Simple, direct, and built to roll all the way through. They are one of those underrated bands of the sixties, known for their 3 hits Going Up the Country (1968), On the Road Again (1968), and Let’s Work Together (1970). They are far better than that. A live album by them and John Hooker I can’t recommend enough called Hooker ‘n Heat. 

Rollin’ and Tumblin’

Well, I rolled ‘n’ tumbled
I cried the whole night long
Oh well, I rolled ‘n’ tumbled
I cried the whole night long
Oh well, I had the feelin’, baby
Something’s goin’ on wrong

Oh well, I really love you, baby
Come on and say you’ll be mine
Oh well, I really love you, baby
Come on and say you’ll be mine
Well, if you don’t like my taters
Don’t you dig up my vine

Oh well, I cried last night, mama
I cried the night before
Oh well, I cried last night, mama
I cried the night before
Oh well, I had the feelin’, baby
You don’t love me no more

Well, if the river was whiskey
I was a divin’ duck
Well, if the river was whiskey
I was a divin’ duck
Well, I would swim to the bottom
Baby, I wouldn’t come up

Oh well, I rolled ‘n’ tumbled
I cried the whole night long
Oh well, I rolled’ ‘n’ tumbled
I cried the whole night long
Oh well, I had the feelin’, baby
Something’s goin’ on wrong

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

59 thoughts on “Canned Heat – Rollin’ and Tumblin’”

  1. I had that Festival recording in my library for years but never got around to watching it!! This is amazing stuff. You know how to pick songs Max! Al Wilson was as true a student of the Delta Blues as there ever has been. A little story you may not have heard.

    During the early stages of the Folk revival there was an effort from a small group to track down some of the lost names. They found Son House working in a low paying job in Rochester, New York. This would be in 1962. Problem was he hadn’t played in almost 20 years and had forgotten how! It was Al Wilson (soon to be of Canned Heat) who listened to Son House records and re-taught him how to play his own songs. Amazing.

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    1. Wilson also was a huge activist for Redwood Trees as well. I thought that was really interesting about him.
      That is amazing. It sounds the same as The Band, before they were popular, meeting and playing with Sonny Boy Williamson II before he passed.
      But I agree…Wilson was a great blues guitarist…a purist from what I heard.

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  2. Canned Heat were one of those bands that didn’t steal, they paid homage. As you noted, they worked with John Lee Hooker (as did Bonnie Raitt – who also played with Muddy Waters) – similar to Fleetwood Mac going to Chicago to work with Otis Spann, Willie Dixon, Big Walter Horton, and others. Also Michael Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, Donald Duck Dunn, and Buddy Miles, who cut a record with Muddy Waters, Otis Spann, and Sam Lay (“Fathers and Sons”).They wanted to learn from the masters.

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    1. You are exactly right saying they paid homage… they didn’t change the song around…and I love Cream but they shot steroids in the songs…Canned Heat kept them about as close as you could keep them using electric guitars, bass, and drums.

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  3. My kind of blues rock, Max. You can count me among those folks who only know Canned Heat for these three songs you called out.

    Bob “The Bear” Hite, Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson, or Henry “The Sunflower” Vestine, Larry “The Mole” Taylor and Adolfo “Fito” de la Parra, for that matter…You gotta love these stage names! I guess they were not coincidental and meant to mimic some of Canned Heat’s traditional blues heroes.

    Walter Trout, a blues rock artist I’ve come to love over the past 10 years or so, was one of Canned Heat’s many members, from 1981-1985. I remember Trout once said he was the only member of the group’s line-up at the time, who came out alive from all their drug excesses.

    By 2013, Trout had cirrhosis and was wasting away. A liver transplant in 2014 saved his life, and he has since managed to get off drugs. Today, he’s an advocate for organ donation. When I saw him at the Iridium in New York in April 2019, he basically told his story on stage. It was quite moving.

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    2. I’m a fan of them and was looking for something else to cover because I didn’t think it was fair just blogging the 3 hits and nothing else.

      Christian…since you like Trout and the blues…please check out “Hooker ‘n Heat” …its so authentic that it hurts. It’s also right up Christian’s alley…trust me.

      I’m glad Trout got a second lease on life…because of what I learned of my friend Paul…getting one doesn’t mean your body will accept it…I’m glad Trout’s did.

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  4. Pingback: Canned Heat – Rollin’ and Tumblin’ – MobsterTiger

  5. I like and respect this band. I feel they were authentic and true to the music. Don’t know tons of their stuff, but enjoy listening to them. On a tangent, Pete Townshend did a version of “On The Road Again” on a live album.

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      1. Glad you liked it. At first I thought it was on the Deep End record that we were talking about a while ago, but I had to look it up. It was on another live CD I had.

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      3. Yes, that’s the one. And regarding your comment to someone else, I’m shocked about “Safety Dance”. I always thought it was a Robert Johnson rewrite.

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      4. Oh yes! LOL…can you imagine Johnson doing that? No offense if you like the song (different strokes…) but…and it’s not fair but when I think of the 1980s…that song and a host of other ones like it come up in my mind….which is wrong…but that is the reason I don’t favor the decade I came of age in.

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      5. Actually, I knew a guy who had that album. Sadly he has since passed away, but we did not always have the same taste in music. Well, it was the 80s is all I can say.

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      6. Sorry about your friend…but yea…it was a strange decade to say the least. The seventies were strange but it seemed every genre in that decade had a moment. Rock, soul, country, pop, disco, novelty, etc…
        Also…there are songs that I normally would not like but a good memory attached to it…changes it.

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  7. Cream recorded ‘Rollin’ and Tumblin’’ on their 1966 debut album Fresh Cream and there are many versions of this same song with slightly different lyrics, but the main theme is heartbreak, longing, and worrying about a relationship.  There is emotional turmoil felt in this song, which makes the singer toss and turn, or rather in this case roll and tumble.  It also expresses despair and sadness, making the singer cry throughout the night.  I remember listening to this song in the late 60’s when I was camping out with my friends and it is great to hear it again, Max.

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    1. I do like Cream’s version…Canned Heat seemed a little more purist than Cream did….that is not a put down at all.
      Glad you liked it Jim…and again I’m jealous you got to hear this stuff real time… while my generation had “The Safety Dance”.

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      3. (Re; your ‘my hate for that song will never die’ comment- I might just have something upcoming in that vein. All I can say is the research into the best of the worst is doing my tiny little brain in.)

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      6. Oh I like Hopkins…Shotgun Blues and many of his others. I just looked up that collection…it’s a shame after he died the collection was scattered but some of his friends still have some… he had them in the coolest wooden crates facing sideways…perfect idea.

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  11. Late start today, Max. They look like such NERDS in the first video, but that sacred resonance comes through regardless.

    Thanks for the nod 🙂 I think my roku has tubi on it. Will have to see if I can watch it. I love these live clips from immortal concerts like this one.

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      1. Max, after learning where in musical history this festival stands, I would expect some of the performers to look nerdy — just like so many of the audience did. Yes they did. Can’t wait to watch the whole thing on tubi if I can get it.

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  12. Yes, there were three Canned Heat hits. Going Up The Country and On The Road Again had vocals by Blind Owl.

    Yes, there were three Canned Heat hits. Hell, that’s a huge amount given they weren’t trying for hits, the blues had yet to really hit the radio (has it ever?) and as somebody who lived the era I find myself tripping over the idea they ONLY had three. My god, that’s three more than they expected.

    Great stuff. So is the Hooker n Heat recording.

    THANKS

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    1. You are right…they were not trying for hits at all. Even the hits were not pop songs whatsoever. Oh I go on and on about the Hooker duet….it is incredible. Thanks for commenting! Glad to see you. I always miss your comments when you are not here.

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  15. I have been a huge fan of canned heat for many years. That self titled 1967 album, which contains “Rollin’ and Tumblin’ as well as my other favorites, “Catfish Blues” and their version of “Dust my Broom” was on regular rotation back in the day. Every once in a while when I’m in the mood to be transported back in time I will listen to that album as well as their follow ups to that first release: “Boogie with Canned Heat,” “Luving the Blues”, and “Hallelujah.” Just awesome stuff! I may just have to listen to them soon.

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    1. I’m just now digging into them more. Of course I knew their hits but dang…these guys were great. They stuck to the original blues songs in their own way and didn’t commercialize them…they did it right.
      Hooker n’ Heat…is the album that blew me away…I need to check the debut album more.

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  16. Good observation Max. Canned Heat at Monterey (or in Woodstock movie’s theme song plus a performance) has aged better than most of the acts from those two festivals, exactly by keeping it basic. They didn’t last long, and their concert fees circa 1970 were probably about 1/20 the big acts like the Who or Hendrix were getting, or 1/100 of what the Stones got, but they’ve held up very well compared to something like Joe Cocker or the Jefferson Airplane (who were wonderful in concert back then, but they do sound kind of dated now) , or even the more similar Ten Years After. I never heard Heat and Hooker, so will listen now, appreciate the referral.

    Fortunately, I did see Mr. Hooker a few times back in the day. And surely HE doesn’t sound dated now either. Something about that basic blues, the meeting of Mississippi, Chicago, Detroit in his case after he left Mississippi. It’s a keeper.

    On Sun, Feb 8, 2026 at 4:45 AM PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of P

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