"the sooner, the better!"

In a post from last week, I called attention to John's lack of confidence in his own voice and pointed out that there was no rational basis for such anxiety. He saw it differently, though, and it's obvious why: John was a man consumed by self-doubt, so much so that he didn't trust one of his two or three top skills. (He probably didn't trust any of them, in fact.) Thus, just because John sometimes heard a different, less alluring voice than most of us hear doesn't mean we should view the situation with bewilderment. He had his reasons, and we need to be understanding. Right. And then after trying to convince yourself of this, your ears are visited by John tearing through "Please Mister Postman" (one of three Motown covers on With The Beatles), and you take in all of that playful soul, all of that smirking but sinewy conviction ("Check it and see/One more time for me!"), and you think, "John, you were out of your mind." Such was my experience earlier today.