Singing for the song, instead of an audience, helps, and that revelation was a long time coming. Always wondered why some performance situations seemed more nervous-making than others did. Finally it dawned that a restless audience distracted me so I had trouble focusing on the song.

I've learned to "see the pictures." As I sing the words, I see the image of what they're telling about...like a little movie in my head. If you have to close your eyes to get those images at first, then do, but after a while the movie goes on automatically. Try it! If you're absorbed in your song, doesn't matter if some folks are sitting around looking and listening. You'll have them seeing the pictures, too.