“Your application aroused more than ordinary interest, the talent which is marked, was not a matter for dispute but rather the nature of the project,”. The rejection letter sent to Sylvia Plath when she applied for grant money to finish her novel. Considering at the time she had a baby, a troubled marriage and an appendicitis, it would have made an enormous difference but some miffed that her subject, a person sinking into depression, was not a subject they would choose. To myself it reads like – if only you did not sound like yourself, we would be able to support your writing. Sometimes, as I apply for academic teaching jobs, there are queries from hiring committees echoing similarly. It is not about whether I might be a good teacher or whether I am knowledgeable about songwriting or improvisation but am I correctly aligned ideologically? George Martin and Paul McCartney tried hard to talk John out of Revolution #9, but thanks be the Gods of art the White Album is as is.