That's Enough for Me

"That's Enough For Me" is a song by Fleetwood Mac from the 1979 double LP Tusk, on which it is the shortest track. It was one of nine songs from the album composed and sung by Lindsey Buckingham, who also supplied all of the instrumentation. The song was released a B-side to Sara in December 1979.

Background

The working title for "That's Enough For Me" was "Out on the Road", which Buckingham recorded at his home on a MCI 16-track in 1978. The song carried the working title of "Out on the Road" through the month of December.^[1]

Buckingham described That's Enough For Me as "rockabilly on acid" and sought to pull from several reference points when developing the song.^[2] He drew further influences from new wave, but did not actively seek to emulate any particular artist when writing “That’s Enough For Me”.^[3]

Musically, the song is built around a fast finger-picking technique that Buckingham originally learned in his youth while playing along to Kingston Trio records. It follows a I-IV-V chord progression and possesses a tempo of around 254 BPM.^[1] When performed live on the Tusk Tour, it was played at an even faster tempo.^[2] Buckingham originally considered giving the song a more relaxed feel by recording the song at a tape speed of 15 ips rather than 30 ips, but he instead settled on a faster tempo.^[1]

The song's lyrics consist of one short verse and a wordless chorus.^[1] In an interview with Paul Zollo, Buckingham posited that the song could have been about his relationship with Nicks, adding that the lyrics were both "raucous" and "sad".^[3]

Recording

When Buckingham brought the demo to Studio D of The Village Recorder, he requested that producer Ken Caillat leave the studio so he could work on the song with Richard Dashut and engineer Hernan Rojas. He originally utilized other members of Fleetwood Mac during the song's early tracking, including Christine McVie, who played honky-tonk piano fills and glissandos.^[1] However, the final recording only features instrumental contributions from Buckingham.^[4] Part of the song was recorded in Buckingham's bathroom.^[3] McVie and Stevie Nicks both contributed backing vocals to the song, although their additions were made barely audible in the final mix.^[1]

Buckingham recorded several tracks of electric guitars and normal speed through a Fuzz Face effects box. He also recorded a new electric bass guitar, a kick drum, snare drum, and a lead vocal, which were all completed in the absence of Caillat. Overdub sessions continued for a few more weeks until Caillat returned to the studio. After recording a few more new takes of "That's Enough For Me", Buckingham reinforced the rhythms tracks by layering additional snare and kick drums through a M160 microphone placed in close proximity to the instruments and a ribbon M360 microphone placed at a distance. Some acoustic, electric, and resonator guitars were recorded at low speed and later sped up to achieve a high-pitched "fingerpicked frenzy of sound".^[1]

Critical reception

AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine described That's Enough For Me as a "rampaging" song that contrasted with the mellower compositions on Tusk.^[5] Rob Brunner of Entertainment Weekly identified "That's Enough For Me" as one of Tusk's many good songs, which in his opinion helped make up for the album's "lack of cohesion and consistency".^[6] Kris Needs of Record Collector thought that the song reflected Buckingham desire to faithfully evoke the rawness of early rock and roll records, further adding that it along with Not That Funny and I Know I'm Not Wrong "reveal a coke-provoked creative psyche teetering towards the unhinged."^[7] Tyler Golsen of Far Out thought that the song "toe[d] the line between country and punk".^[8]

Personnel

• Lindsey Buckingham – electric guitars, acoustic guitars, electric and acoustic bass guitars, Dobro, drums, lead and backing vocals
• Christine McVie – backing vocals
• Stevie Nicks – backing vocals

References