Thank You, Mr. Briley

Just finished a workshop with the very talented Martin Briley. He spoke of the importance of "melodic shapes", referring to vocal melodies. The penny dropped. In recent years I've been writing this sequence:

Lyric idea -> Chords -> Vocal Melody

Whereas he's suggesting this :

Vocal Melody -> Lyric -> Chords

Duh. That's why he has gold records and why my mom still helps me out.