DUTC#119 December 14, 2025

Feature Song: “Somebody Loan Me a Dime”/ “Loan Me a Dime”

Fenton Lee Robinson (1935-1997) was an American blues singer and proponent of the Chicago Blues. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2023. He was born near Greenwood, Mississippi and left home at the age of 18, moving to Memphis, Tennessee, where he recorded his first single, “Tennessee Woman,” in 1957. In 1959, he made his first recording of “As the Years Go Passing By,” which was later recorded by several other blues artists. He settled in Chicago in 1962 and recorded what was to become his signature song there, “Somebody Loan Me a Dime,” in 1967 for the Palos label. The nationwide distribution of that song had to be aborted because of a freak snowstorm that hit Chicago.

Robinson re-recorded the song for his critically acclaimed album, Somebody Loan Me a Dime, in 1974, the first of three that he would record Alligator Records. His second album, I Hear Some Blues Downstairs (1977), was nominated for a Grammy Award. It contained a recording of his previously released song, “As the Years Go Passing By.” The third album, Nightflight, was released in 1984. “Somebody Loan Me a Dime” blends together some elements of jazz with Chicago Blues and Texas Blues, and the entire album was critically well received, and is regarded as the most important work in his discography. In 1993, The Big Book of Blues, described the album as “essential listening.” A review in AllMusic characterized the album as “one of the most subtly satisfying electric blues albums of the ‘70s.”

Howard Duane Allman (1946-1971) was an American rock and blues guitarist and the founder and original leader of the Allman Brothers Band, for which he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. He was born in Nashville, Tennessee and began playing the guitar at 14. He formed the Allman Brothers Band with his brother, Gregg, in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969. He is best remembered for his brief but influential tenure in the band, and in particular, for his expressive slide guitar playing and inventive improvisational skills. He was also a sought-after session musician both before and during his tenure with his band, performing with the likes of King Curtis, Aretha Franklin, Herbie Mann, Wilson Pickett, and Boz Scaggs. It is in that capacity with Scaggs that he contributed his guitar skills to Boz Scaggs’ cover of Robinson’s song, with the shortened title, “Loan Me a Dime.”

William Royce “Boz” Scaggs (1944) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was a bandmate of Steve Miller in the Ardells in the early 1960s and a member of The Steve Miller Band from 1967 to 1968. He began his solo career in 1969, though he lacked a major hit until his 1976 album, Silk Degrees, which produced the hit singles, “Lido Shuffle” and “Lowdown.” After having established himself with his work with Steve Miller as an exemplary blues-R&B singer over those years, it was with the encouragement of Rolling Stones founder Jann Wenner that Scaggs struck out on his own, recording his debut album, Boz Scaggs, in 1969, which was co-produced by Wenner. It was recorded at the legendary Muscle Shoals studio, and is centered on a genuine, no-nonsense approach to roots music that reflects its influences without resorting to cliché.  While Scaggs would go on to record a much sleeker sound in the 70s, the overall rawness of the tracks on this debut album may come as a surprise to some coming to this album in later years, but many have suggested that it was a welcome surprise at that. The album’s other notable inclusion was the appearance of guitarist Duane Allman, which is best heard on the extended 13-minute version of the song, “Loan Me a Dime.” As is too often the case with covered songs back in the day, especially covers of songs by black artists, when the Scaggs & Allman version of “Somebody Loan Me a Dime” first appeared it was misattributed, resulting in legal battles before Robinson was given his due credit for the song. While the name was shortened, and there are some slight changes to the lyrics, it is the same song, even though the original only clocks in at under three minutes. That being said, the Scaggs- Allman version of the song takes it to another level completely, and one cannot argue with the virtuosity on display on this extended version of Robinson’s song.

Fenton Robinson. “Somebody Loan Me a Dime” 1967.

Boz Scaggs & Duane Allman. “Loan Me a Dime” cover 1969.

Bonus video. Boz Scaggs, “Loan Me a Dime,” live at the American Music Hall 2003.

Los Angeles 2025