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rezzeJ  ·  3547 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What comes first: The lyrics or the melody?

Personally, I think they should evolve together. They should be considered as, and come together to form, a tight-nit whole. A piece of music or a particular melody intrinsically suggests a mood or demeanour. Similarly, the emotion and syntactical content of the lyrics also intrinsically suggests a way in which they might be intoned or rhythmically placed. If the writer does not judge the two as interdependent, then it can become a task to try and merge them.

As a result, the music must inform the lyrics and lyrics must in turn inform the music. For a happy and productive writing process, one should not have precedent over the other. That's just me, of course.