Personally I’d go as far as saying that a song comprises of two parts:

1. Lyrics
2. Melody (of lyrics)

Everything else is arrangement.

Corey

While arrangement and production are extremely important for a recording to be successful, I tend to consider the basic components of a song to be chords, melody, and (if applicable) lyrics. Everything else, even intros, I’d consider either arrangement or production.

It’s a minor distinction, but important in that a lot of arrangement and production issues can (and should, imho) be ignored as secondary to the actual process of writing a song, and the best way to derail the songwriting process is to get heavily involved in issues of arrangement and production when the basic elements of the song (chords, melody, lyrics) are as yet unfinished. Until those are done, a lot of the other stuff is pure distraction.

Of course, if one is writing in the studio with an artist or as an artist, all of these things are going to come up at once, so I can see the relevance, but so few people have the luxury of writing in the studio that it seems like a pretty limited audience to reach. Most readers do not have the money or label support for that kinda thing, though with home recording becoming more and more affordable perhaps that is changing.

My point is that I think writing the basic elements of the song, then figuring out the rest when it’s time to record is probably a less stressful and more productive way to work.