I wish he were a friend of mine. I always understood each single word he said and he always sang some mighty fine rhyme.*
Yes, Ol' Blue Eyes kept a personal journal. In fact “KEEP A JOURNAL” was one of the first things he told his daughter Nancy when she wanted some advice for succeeding in the music business.
In preparing to perform a song, Sinatra had a personal sound system. He spent hours and hours handwriting and rewriting lyrics. No wonder when you hear him sing, you believe he experienced every word of that song's story. His next step was to take a sheet with just the lyrics. No music. At that point, he said, “I'm looking at a poem. I'm trying to understand the point of view of the person behind the words. I want to understand his emotions. Then I start speaking, not singing, the words so I can experiment and get the right inflections. ” His journaling system enabled him to record songs like “My Way” in one take!
Many of us get a song “stuck in our heads” and we drive ourselves crazy trying to get rid of it. But what if we worked through it like Sinatra? In your journal (notebook, Staples pad, whatever) write down those lyrics from that song you keep hearing. Write, write, write...following wherever your journal-writing leads you. Which of course reminds me of a song, “Where you Lead, I will Follow” by…Carole King (thank you ITunes).
How about that? I'm gonna use that as a journal entry today.
On my upcoming CD,
I write a song--"Since Forever".
*My lyrics for “Joy to the World” by Three Dog Night.