'Wingin' It' Takes Funky On The Road With 'Boz Scaggs

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

If you're in the middle of a road trip this Labor Day weekend, turn up your radio.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

WERTHEIMER: On today's Wingin' It, we have the final part of our road trip music series. Music historian Ashley Kahn tells us about his favorite song to drive to - "Loan Me A Dime" by Boz Scaggs, featuring Duane Allman.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LOAN ME A DIME")

BOZ SCAGGS: (Singing) Somebody loan me a dime. I need to call my old time, used to be.

ASHLEY KAHN, BYLINE: I remember I had this particular song on a mix tape that we were listening to on a road trip up into Canada. In around 1981, this was absolutely one of the most cathartic, impacting musical selections of that trip.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LOAN ME A DIME")

SCAGGS: (Singing) Little girl's been gone so long. You know it's worrying me.

KAHN: Any song that's going to accompany a road trip has to have this slow build to it, and it has to have sections, and it has to have this incredibly cathartic ending. And this is one of those tunes that has not one vocal section but two vocal sections, not one guitar solo but two guitar solos, courtesy of Duane Allman.

(SOUNDBITE OF BOZ SCAGGS SONG, "LOAN ME A DIME")

SCAGGS: Yeah.

KAHN: And it also includes this incredible shift in tempo and gets funkier and the horn section comes in towards the end.

(SOUNDBITE OF BOZ SCAGGS SONG, "LOAN ME A DIME")

KAHN: It starts off as a slow blues, but by the end, you're back at church. And you're shaking the tambourine and the whole thing is becoming this emotional peak that just doesn't end until Duane Allman brings it to this close.

(SOUNDBITE OF BOZ SCAGGS SONG, "LOAN ME A DIME")

WERTHEIMER: That was American music historian Ashley Kahn. He was talking about his favorite road trip song, "Loan Me A Dime" by Boz Scaggs, featuring Duane Allman. We still want to know what songs you like to drive to. Let us know by going to WEEKEND EDITION's Facebook page. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.