Would Stone have come up with that music if Vedder brought him the lyrics first? It’s impossible to know. But the result was a powerful, mega hit song. Alternatively, by writing the melody first you may have to work extra hard to find the right words, as Cathy Dennis, co-writer of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” explains:
“I beat myself up for seven days, not sleeping,” Dennis said. “The melody came first, then I had this puzzle of trying to fit words to the right number of syllables. It was really weird. I kept writing and then re-editing myself again, and again, and again.”