a song by jim croce goes:
"Like the pine trees linin' the windin road
Ive got a name, Ive got a name
Like the singin bird and the croakin toad
Ive got a name, Ive got a name"
i heard this song as a child and connected with it, and the melody was the most important thing to me.
the words "i got a name" were also important to define the melody, but the other words were incidental.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fagg-Sd8sT8[/youtube]