Somebody Loan Me a Dime
Encyclopedia
Somebody Loan Me a Dime is a 1974 studio album by blues
singer
and guitar
ist Fenton Robinson
, his debut under the Alligator Records
imprint. Blending together some elements of jazz
with Chicago blues
and Texas blues
, the album was largely critically well received and is regarded as important within his discography. Among the album's tracks is a re-recording of his 1967 signature song
, "Somebody Loan Me a Dime", which has become a blues standard. It has been reissued multiple times in the United States and Japan, including with bonus tracks.
blue radio host Jeff Harris describes the album as "[o]ne of the era’s true masterpieces", Robinson's "pinnacle". Critic Robert Christgau
offers some dissent; though he graded the album a B+ overall, indicated that Robinson's voice (though well utilized) lacked power, his songs lacked hooks (aside from "Gotta Wake Up") and his music was "stylish and thoughtful" but restrained. Allmusic's Bill Dahl, by contrast, praised Robinson for the power of several composition and focused particularly on his voice, a "deep, rich baritone [that] sounds more like a magic carpet than a piece of barbed wire," indicating that Robinson "speaks in jazz-inflected tongues, full of complex surprises." Harris, too, pays particular attention to Robinson's voice, which he describes as "a thing of beauty, a deep, rich baritone that glides along and is a perfect counterpoint to his elegant guitar work."
in 1969, under the title "Loan Me a Dime" without composition credit for Robinson). The song is regarded as Robinson's signature piece and went on to become a blues standard, according to 1997's Encyclopedia of Blues being "part of the repertoire of one out of every two blues artists." The title song serves as the background music during the opening scenes of the movie The Blues Brothers, a movie responsible for revitalizing Aretha Franklin's
career.
Jeff Harris identifies as among Robinson's influences on the album B.B. King and T-Bone Walker
, "but with a strong jazzy inflection and plenty of grit". All About Jazz, concurring with those influences, places the musician on "the smoother side" of the genre of Chicago blues
with some elements of Texas blues
.
label, the first of three for the label. (For his second, I Hear Some Blues Downstairs, Robinson would be nominated for a Grammy Award
.) Prior to his contract with Alligator, Robinson had encountered difficulties finding a studio home for his music. The album has been subsequently reissued a number of times by Alligator in the United States and internationally by Japanese labels Pony Canyon
and P-Vine. The 2001 P-Vine re-issue includes two bonus tracks: "I Hear Some Blues Downstairs" (4:16) and "As the Years Go Passing By" (4:49).
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
singer
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist Fenton Robinson
Fenton Robinson
Fenton Robinson was an American blues singer and exponent of the Chicago blues guitar.-Biography:Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, United States, Robinson left his home at the age of 18 to move to Memphis, Tennessee where he recorded his first single "Tennessee Woman" in 1957. He settled in Chicago...
, his debut under the Alligator Records
Alligator Records
Alligator Records is a Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971.Iglauer started the label with his own savings to record and produce his favorite band Hound Dog Taylor & The HouseRockers, whom his employer, Bob Koester of Delmark Records, declined to record...
imprint. Blending together some elements of jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
with Chicago blues
Chicago blues
The Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois, by taking the basic acoustic guitar and harmonica-based Delta blues, making the harmonica louder with a microphone and an instrument amplifier, and adding electrically amplified guitar, amplified bass guitar, drums,...
and Texas blues
Texas blues
Texas blues is a subgenre of blues. It has had various style variations but typically has been played with more swing than other blues styles....
, the album was largely critically well received and is regarded as important within his discography. Among the album's tracks is a re-recording of his 1967 signature song
Signature song
A signature song is the one song that a popular and well-established singer or band is most closely identified with or best known for, even if they have had success with a variety of songs...
, "Somebody Loan Me a Dime", which has become a blues standard. It has been reissued multiple times in the United States and Japan, including with bonus tracks.
Critical reception
The album overall received good reception by critics and is described by the 1993 The Big Book of Blues as "essential listening." Allmusic in its review characterized the album as "[o]ne of the most subtly satisfying electric blues albums of the '70s". New York based WGMCWGMC
WGMC is a listener-supported station in Rochester, New York, USA, broadcasting on 90.1 MHz FM and streaming on the Internet at www.jazz901.org. On air, the station is identified as "Jazz 90.1" in reference to its FM frequency. WGMC specializes in all styles of jazz, but is also an important outlet...
blue radio host Jeff Harris describes the album as "[o]ne of the era’s true masterpieces", Robinson's "pinnacle". Critic Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
offers some dissent; though he graded the album a B+ overall, indicated that Robinson's voice (though well utilized) lacked power, his songs lacked hooks (aside from "Gotta Wake Up") and his music was "stylish and thoughtful" but restrained. Allmusic's Bill Dahl, by contrast, praised Robinson for the power of several composition and focused particularly on his voice, a "deep, rich baritone [that] sounds more like a magic carpet than a piece of barbed wire," indicating that Robinson "speaks in jazz-inflected tongues, full of complex surprises." Harris, too, pays particular attention to Robinson's voice, which he describes as "a thing of beauty, a deep, rich baritone that glides along and is a perfect counterpoint to his elegant guitar work."
Music
Among the more notable tracks on the album was a new recording of the title song, which Robinson had originally released in 1967 for the Palos label (and which had become a hit for Boz ScaggsBoz Scaggs
William Royce "Boz" Scaggs is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He gained fame in the 1970s with several Top 20 hit singles in the United States, along with the #2 album, Silk Degrees. Scaggs continues to write, record music and tour.-Early life and career:Scaggs was born in Canton,...
in 1969, under the title "Loan Me a Dime" without composition credit for Robinson). The song is regarded as Robinson's signature piece and went on to become a blues standard, according to 1997's Encyclopedia of Blues being "part of the repertoire of one out of every two blues artists." The title song serves as the background music during the opening scenes of the movie The Blues Brothers, a movie responsible for revitalizing Aretha Franklin's
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
career.
Jeff Harris identifies as among Robinson's influences on the album B.B. King and T-Bone Walker
T-Bone Walker
Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker was a critically acclaimed American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who was one of the most influential pioneers and innovators of the jump blues and electric blues sound. He is the first musician recorded playing blues with the...
, "but with a strong jazzy inflection and plenty of grit". All About Jazz, concurring with those influences, places the musician on "the smoother side" of the genre of Chicago blues
Chicago blues
The Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois, by taking the basic acoustic guitar and harmonica-based Delta blues, making the harmonica louder with a microphone and an instrument amplifier, and adding electrically amplified guitar, amplified bass guitar, drums,...
with some elements of Texas blues
Texas blues
Texas blues is a subgenre of blues. It has had various style variations but typically has been played with more swing than other blues styles....
.
Release history
The album was Robinson's debut for the Alligator RecordsAlligator Records
Alligator Records is a Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971.Iglauer started the label with his own savings to record and produce his favorite band Hound Dog Taylor & The HouseRockers, whom his employer, Bob Koester of Delmark Records, declined to record...
label, the first of three for the label. (For his second, I Hear Some Blues Downstairs, Robinson would be nominated for a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
.) Prior to his contract with Alligator, Robinson had encountered difficulties finding a studio home for his music. The album has been subsequently reissued a number of times by Alligator in the United States and internationally by Japanese labels Pony Canyon
Pony Canyon
is a Japanese company, established on October 1, 1966 , which publishes music, DVD and VHS videos, movies and video games. It is a subsidiary of Japanese Media Group, Fujisankei Communications Group.-History:...
and P-Vine. The 2001 P-Vine re-issue includes two bonus tracks: "I Hear Some Blues Downstairs" (4:16) and "As the Years Go Passing By" (4:49).
Track listing
Except where otherwise noted, all tracks composed by Fenton Robinson- "Somebody Loan Me a Dime" – 2:54
- "The Getaway" – 4:17
- "Directly from My Heart to You" (Little RichardLittle RichardRichard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
) – 4:17 - "Going to Chicago" (Traditional) – 3:46
- "You Say You're Leaving" (Big Joe WilliamsBig Joe WilliamsJoseph Lee Williams , billed throughout his career as Big Joe Williams, was an American Delta blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, notable for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar...
) – 3:15 - "Checking on My Woman" – 3:23
- "You Don't Know What Love Is" – 3:50
- "I've Changed" – 4:23
- "Country Girl" (Rudy ToombsRudy ToombsRudolph "Rudy" Toombs , born in Monroe, Louisiana, was an American black songwriter who wrote "Teardrops from My Eyes", Ruth Brown's first number one R&B successful song...
) – 4:55 - "Gotta Wake Up" (Robinson) – 4:25
- "Texas Flood" (Larry Davis, Don RobeyDon RobeyDon Robey was an American record label executive, songwriter and record producer, who used criminal means as part of his business model...
, Joseph Wade Scott) – 4:12
Personnel
- Dave Baldwin – tenor saxophoneTenor saxophoneThe tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
- Cornelius Boyson – bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Elmer Brown – trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
- Tony Gooden – drums
- Bill HeidBill HeidBill Heid is an American soul jazz and hard bop jazz pianist and organist, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, probably better known for his work with musicians such as Koko Taylor, Henry Johnson and Fenton Robinson, among others.-Discography:*This is My Rifle Westside*Bop Rascal ...
– keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments... - Norval D. Hodges – trumpet
- Bruce IglauerBruce IglauerBruce Iglauer is the American founder and head of the independent blues record label Alligator Records in Chicago.Iglauer was born in Ann Arbor and grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Cincinnati, Ohio...
– record producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music... - Bill McFarland – tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
- Fenton RobinsonFenton RobinsonFenton Robinson was an American blues singer and exponent of the Chicago blues guitar.-Biography:Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, United States, Robinson left his home at the age of 18 to move to Memphis, Tennessee where he recorded his first single "Tennessee Woman" in 1957. He settled in Chicago...
– guitar, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Mighty Joe Young – guitar