Rollin' and Tumblin'

Lyrics: Traditional
Music: Traditional

The Grateful Dead broke this out twice in 1995 but it never had time to establish itself in the repertoire. Garcia only managed repetions of something like the following verse:

I've been rolling and tumbling
Rolling all night long
I've been rolling and tumbling
Rolling all night long
Well baby, baby, baby
[Baby, baby come back home?]

More recently (2008) introduced by Phil Lesh and Friends. Jackie Greene sang the following verses, sandwiched in New Minglewood Blues.

Well I roll and I tumble
Crying the whole night long
I said I roll and I tumble
Crying the whole night long
I got up this morning
All I had was gone

Well if the river was whiskey
I'd be a diving duck
Well if the river was whiskey
I'd be a diving duck
I would dive down to the bottom
I would never come up

I want you to love me
Else [?] let be
I said I want you to love me
Else [?] let be
I want you to all like my peaches
Don't shake my tree

Origins
The best known version of this song is by Muddy Waters, but it goes back earlier than that. Hambone Willie Newbern did an early version and is sometimes credited as the author. But it seems likely that its origins predate that.

Fuller versions include some or all of the following lyrics (culled from versions by Newbern, Muddy Waters and Eric Clapton).

Well I'm rollin' and I'm tumblin'
Cried the whole night long
Well I'm rollin' and I'm tumblin'
Cried the whole night long
Well I woke up this morning
Couldn't tell right from wrong

Well I told my baby, before I left that town
Well I told my baby, before I left that town
Well don't you let nobody
Tear a [barrel] house down

Well if the river was whiskey
And I was a diving duck
Well if the river was whiskey
And I was a diving duck
Well I would dive to the bottom
Never would I come up

Well I could have had religion
[??]
Well I could have had religion
[??]
Well whiskey and women
Would not let me rest

If you ever wake up
And find your daughter gone (note 1)
If you ever wake up
And find your daughter gone
And you wring your hands
And you cry the whole day long

And I fold my arms
And I slowly walk away
And I fold my arms
And I slowly walk away
Said that's all right sweet moma
Your trouble gonna come some day

Well come here baby
Sit down on your daddy's knee
Well come here baby
Sit down on your daddy's knee
I want to tell you
'Bout the way they treated me

Notes
(1) some lyrics sites have "dough roller"

Recordings
None by the Dead. Hambone Willie Newbern's version is on "Roots Of Rock" (under the title "Roll And Tumble Blues") [Tazoo 1063]. Versions by Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton and many others are readily available.

Futher Information
For more information on recordings see Matt Schofield's Grateful Dead Family Discography