"I carry a journal with me to collect data for my music.""How do...

"I carry a journal with me to collect data for my music."
"How do you collect data for music?"
"I just write down anything that catches my ear. For example, yesterday I heard my roommate’s daughter sing: ‘Row, row, row your boat, gently down the STREET.’ She messed up the song, but I thought it’d make a good lyric, so I wrote it down."