This reminds me of Poe:

Originally Posted by "Edgar Allen Poe"
“Shadows of Shadows passing... It is now 1831... and as always, I am absorbed with a delicate thought. It is how poetry has indefinite sensations to which end, music is an essential, since the comprehension of sweet sound is our most indefinite conception. Music, when combined with a pleasurable idea, is poetry. Music without the idea is simply music. Without music or an intriguing idea, color becomes pallour, man becomes carcass, home becomes catacomb, and the dead are but for a moment motionless.”

My hope is that, when I write a song, I can create music which supports the words, and words that support the music.

The order in which one or the other is created isn't important. By combining the two, a synergy is created where hopefully the whole is greater than the parts. Otherwise, why not simply write a poem or instrumental? Words and music inform each other.

A song isn't a poem set to music, although in some cases, it could be. More often than not, lyrics by themselves aren't even poetry, because it depends on the musical skeleton for support. The scaffolding that is supplied by music is different than that created by the use of words alone - even the spoken word.

I can think of many songs with lyrics that move me, but they would not have nearly the same power without the music.

Similarly, music contains abstracted emotions and motion, but the addition of lyrics infuses it with specific thoughts and emotions.

It's not an either/or proposition.

-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?