It's Not Enough

"It's Not Enough"
Song

"It's Not Enough" is a song recorded by The Who, written by Pete Townshend and his partner Rachel Fuller, and featured on the band's 2006 album Endless Wire. It also appears on a reissue of the Who's compilation album Then and Now and in Townshend's rock musical The Boy Who Heard Music. The lead single from Endless Wire, "It's Not Enough" peaked at #37 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, their first US chart hit since "Eminence Front" in 1982.

History

The song originally started life with music and lyrics by Rachel Fuller, but Pete Townshend liked the music and wrote different lyrics to use for the song that appears on Endless Wire. He later explained the origins of the song: "Watching Le Mepris, the '60s film by Jean-Luc Godard starring Brigitte Bardot, I found myself wondering why it is that we choose people to partner who we feel aren't quite right. Bardot asks her lover, 'Do you adore my legs?' He nods. 'My breasts?' He nods. 'My arms?' He nods. She goes over her entire body. He nods every time. When she's finished she gets up and tells him, 'It's not enough'". Bardot and the film 'Le Mepris' are mentioned specifically in the song.

Townshend explained on one of his and Fuller's In the Attic video podcasts that he was worried some people may criticize the song because it was co-written, but he goes on to say that it sounds more like The Who than anything else on the album.

Personnel

• Roger Daltrey - lead vocals
• Pete Townshend - lead guitar, backing vocals
• Jolyon Dixon - acoustic guitar
• Stuart Ross - bass guitar
• Rachel Fuller - keyboards
• Peter Huntington - drums