Born Quote by Jason Reeves

I usually start with a lyric or a melody and then build a song around that.

— Grace Potter

I always write the lyrics first. There are one or two exceptions over the years, but that's pretty much the way it's been. The…

— Bruce Cockburn

Do I start with the lyrics? No. Quite honestly, it's the opposite. I generally get the melody first - I kinda fiddle around on…

— Iron & Wine

Usually what I do is I write my vocal melody over guitar parts and then I come up with lyrics.

— Hope Sandoval

Sometimes I start with lyrics - rarely - but sometimes I might have an idea for some lyrics that I wanna say. I write…

— Leon Bridges

Some people start with the lyrics first because they know what they want to talk about and they just write a whole bunch of…

— John Legend

I don't really know that there's any real rules for songwriting.

— Amos Lee

Usually now a song starts just in my head with a melody or a lyric idea coming first.Then typically I'll go to a guitar,…

— Eliot Lewis

I generally have lyrics first, but you can't help that when you're writing lyrics you start to get a melody in your head. So…

— Billy Bob Thornton

It varies, I don't think there is any one set way of writing songs or coming up with ideas, it comes in so many…

— PJ Harvey

We start a lot with melodies and instrumentation and trying to figure out good melodies for verses and choruses. We get to lyrics sometimes…

— Dave Haywood

The lyrics seem to follow the music, and that's usually how I write. I write more about what comes out of my mouth while…

— Gary Louris