melody or lyrics first?

[FuzzFace]

say you started out with an actual debate, the words from a debate, and added music afterwords............so is this a song........if the debaters were singing.............and the debate was about music?

NOW we are getting somewhere:

Parliament - The Musical!

[kc2ine]

if you write lyrics first, that is not a song IMO but a poem to which later you're trying to fit some melody.

Interesting theory.  So what about the guy who writes the music first, then adds lyrics after, is this just an instrumental that to which you are trying to fit some words.......where will it stop.  Ahhhhh, the mysteries of song.

exactly -  the real song is when you create melody and lyrics simultaneously as inseparable entity. 

[Bluesberry]

^melody and lyrics simultaneously as inseparable entity........interesting concept........I don't imagine it happens this way too often, I may be wrong, but I suppose it could.  There are many stories of famous songwriters who just use nonsense words while the musical ideas are coming, and then once the music is fleshed out, the real lyrics are developed....that seems to be a very common way to write songs.  Likewise there are many stories of famous songwriters who write lyrics down on paper before even thinking about the music.  It seems that the simultaneous method is just one of the many methods to write a "real" song.  I dont think you can say your method is the only way to write a "real" song, unless you are just trying to be provocative for the sake of a good debate.......and I do love a good debate.

[Geir]

if you write lyrics first, that is not a song IMO but a poem to which later you're trying to fit some melody.

if you write the music first, that is not a song IMO but a melody you're trying to fit a poem to. 

[Geir]

say you started out with an actual debate, the words from a debate, and added music afterwords............so is this a song........if the debaters were singing.............and the debate was about music?

think i have done that once 

[kc2ine]

^melody and lyrics simultaneously as inseparable entity........interesting concept........I don't imagine it happens this way too often, I may be wrong, but I suppose it could.  

of course not too often because good songs don't happen everyday.

It seems that the simultaneous method is just one of the many methods to write a  "real" song.

of course not, this is the method "real" men are using 

[Bluesberry]

^hahahahahahahahahaha.....is that you Gringo?

[Tony W]

MIDI rules. who needs to write lyrics?

[Saijinn Maas]

How did a question, about what people found easier to start with, devolve into "what music is"?

When I write lyrics, they are just that. Lyrics to a song that has yet to find it's melody. That was their intention and that is what they will be.

Like others, I vary. Sometimes a melody will come to me and I will start with that. Most times I start with a riff that eventually becomes a progression that I can work with. At this point I tend to "sing/mumble" the melody over the progression, sometimes ad-libbing words here and there until something grabs me.

On those occasions where I have started with the lyrics, those lyrics rarely end up being the same by the time the song is complete. Everything from the theme, rhyme, or even variations in "syllabic syncopation" might necessitate a change.

[Farrell Jackson]

I've created lyric first and also later after I have the chords and melody in my head. I've also done both at the same time in the same sitting. Although I find it advantageous to have some partial or completed lyric saved in my lyric file because I never know when something good will come out of my noodling on the guitar. That way I can create the basic song when the creative iron is hot. No matter how complete my lyric are there is always some word-smithing involved to fit the melody and song structure......it never happens the other way round for me. Most times, I have the song completely worked out in my head before I ever hit the record button. That way I rarely record demo tracks.....my mind set is always to record the keeper tracks on the first sitting.

Farrell