Thistle,

I think songwriting happens both ways. Music to fit words and words to fit music. For me it all comes at once. The words sing the melody to me.

Some musicians write the music and pay lyricists to write lyrics. For those who create only in the language of music, that probably works well. Some writers write the lyrics and pay musicians to create the melodies. I suppose for writers who think in words, that works well. I can't separate the two.

I'm trying to write a syllabus for this class and it's straining my brain. Never gave this so much thought before. Many of the most popular songs are written by non musicians so I thought there would more info, but not so far.

I thought this would be easy. Maybe not. I don't want to intellectualize it away.

smile