Thoughts on Inspiration
I have always had an equal interest in - or more accurately, an equal obsession for - music and words. If I think I am concentrating solely on the one, the other is inevitably hovering not too far away. I find that cadences of speech, without my prompting, will turn into musical cadences and/or melodic shapes - and, conversely, I find lyrics emerging unbidden from what I imagined at the start to be purely musical ideas.
So the answer to the inevitable question 'What comes first?' is never straightforward The more interesting discussion I reckon is about inspiration - and at what point, in the process of creating, our muse might appear.
But for me, inspiration can happen at any time during the writing process. It doesn't have to be there at the beginning (which is just as well as I often work to deadlines and can't afford to wait until I'm in the mood) but can suddenly arrive at any time during the writing process.