Lyrics first motto

When Daryl and I write together it's lyrics first then music.
 
When the CHB was together and wrote, all but one tune was music first then lyric. The final song was lyric first then music.
 

Thanks Bapu and mettelus for the morale booster.  I was starting to think there was something wrong with me, but I'm glad to hear others can sympathize with my plight.
 
I'm feeling upbeat.  It's almost like going on a diet or giving up sugar or something like that.  It's going to take willpower.

bapu
When Daryl and I write together it's lyrics first then music.
 
 

Is this the shameless pre-plug of the shameless plug of the upcoming shameless plug ?
 
 
 
 
As for the OP, I should probably do that, but I don't, hence lots of lyricless pieces also nestling on my HDD. I'm particularly useless at the lyrical content, so I tend to put it off.

Guitarhacker
With me, it's often music first followed closely and together with the lyrics.
 
I get a chord progression and a groove..... then a lyric that might be as sparse as a single line or a title, and it grows from there.  Sometimes I will start with that title or line and build from there, but for all intents and purposes, it's pretty much together at the same time.

This...is basically how I write as well. Almost always a chord progression first, but often at the same time and often just a few verses or a chorus idea to build around. Then the actual "work" begins, to flush the rest out.

This post made me smile. Same here: tons of songs without lyrics.
 
Funny thing is: when I start with the lyrics first, it´s more likely for me to have it finished. There are none of my songs with lyrics that hasn´t the final instrumental accompaniment yet. On the other hand I have dozens of songs, "ready for lyrics" since ages, but no idea what to sing :-P
Most of these unfinished songs I have always with me, listen to them whenever I can. Some of them are a few years old already. And sometimes while listening to one random song, suddenly there´re some lyrics in my mind which I record instantly (thank you mobile phone ;-)) and later record in the studio.
 
Soooo... I´d agree. Lyrics first is, based on my own expirences, the most effective way to get a song done. But that doesn´t mean that it is not a huge ton of fun to just open Sonar and start being creative.
 
Thank you all for sharing your thoughts. Had a fun time reading them :-)

mettelus
He said it is often only a few phrases at first, but once he has that is fairly easy to progress.

I couldn´t agree more. Once, there is this initial idea, it´s half done ;-)
 
lol, had to google "whose line is it anyway?" We also had this kinda tv show in Germany. It was called "Frei Schnauze", which means "by guess and by gosh" :-P

Scrambled Eggs...
 
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/10/paul-mccartneys-yesterday/
 

Rimshot
Scrambled Eggs...
http://www.todayifoundout...-mccartneys-yesterday/

 

Guitarhacker
With me, it's often music first followed closely and together with the lyrics.
I get a chord progression and a groove..... then a lyric that might be as sparse as a single line or a title, and it grows from there.  Sometimes I will start with that title or line and build from there, but for all intents and purposes, it's pretty much together at the same time.

I agree with the variety of sentiments in this thread.  For years, since my early writing, I naturally went with Guitarhacker's route above.  The music and lyrics kind of bubbled together from some sort of starting point.  In some cases I would end up with a complete thought, in more I would abandon something half started and move on.
 
Then I heard that reference to scrambled eggs a good number of years ago and found it super liberating.  I was free.  I no longer had to write lyrics while coming up with the music.  And, I thought, just like Paul McCartney I'll come right back and fill in the words like a coloring book after I've got the music figured out. 
 
With that freedom, and with the wonders of Sonar, I quickly assembled about 100+ fantastic songs, complete with melody lines as placeholder for the singing, drums and all sorts of pretty well recorded music parts.  Not nearly enough of them with lyrics.  It just is so easy and fun to throw together the music, and to procrastinate on the lyrics.
 
So I'm trying something that's new for me.  I'm rewarding myself with the music creativity part now (trying this out), only after I've paid my dues and have come up with lyrics for the piece.  So whether I want to dive back into one of my 100+ songs to take it to a new level, or start some new song altogether, whenever I want to touch the system and work on a song I'm creating a gate that says, "Ye shall not pass into the song unless ye have some lyrics for it".
 
That's my new mode, recognizing the process that folks have written above works for them.  I've tried I think most approaches, but this is the one that I'm on now, with the aim to be more disciplined.  Like going on a diet.  Or committing to exercise to get to a certain weight.

Agreed.

Lyrics first is a good way to go. I have noted for myself that using different starting points changes the freedom of other aspects... I think there's a triangle to it:
 
Lyrics
Melody
Music
 
Lyrics first gives me much less defined vocal melody to fit on the music, but works just fine.
Music first usually means I end up with weak, un-impactful lyrics (because so much focus goes into the music)
Melody first has really been my best friend, because for me the vocal melody tells the mood of the song  - dictates lyrics AND music.
 
I'm not very good at writing lyrics anyway.

I might borrow that! Like I said above, I do find it much easier to write lyrics around a melody so that could be sort of my version of the 'same' method. I think it'd be handy to adapt the "one approach" method to my own writing style.
 
I write a fair amount of instrumental-only stuff and starting with a well-defined, well-thought out melody would help me out a lot with fleshing out a good arrangement.

Sometimes I write lyrics and then when I start recording,  the melody dictates a lyrical change. So I am using a hybrid method I suppose, start with a melody and find some nice lyrics to fill the notes. If I have no lyrics and music,  I will start mumbling words out with melody until I suddenly fall upon some lyrics, this method works well for me also. Just remember melody is so important so don't be afraid to change it a few times until you hit on something you really love.  Years ago I would come up with a melody and would not change it because I thought it was the best I could do. However,  over the years of writing and collaborating, I have become much better at excepting change as a great thing to try.
I guess we just keep learning !
Mark