OK. Is it "lyrics are to melody as a chicken is to an egg", or "a melody is to a lyric as an egg is to a chicken"? And, to get even more philosophical, "why did the chicken cross the road?" And, of course you would have to discuss which came first, the chicken and the lyric, or the melody and the egg . . .
Maybe the chicken crossed the road to write a song. And it turns out it laid an egg (melody or lyric wise). . . and the song was toast, which happens in the real world too often . . .
I've got to stop free-associating.
Ott