Íf you are a song writer...

[Suckbird]

...then you write the music or the lyrics?

I keep see people discuss songwriters.

Also, i see that steve harris has wrote almost everysong of maiden,
so he has written the music? or lyrics?

[silent method]

to me it means you write songs if you sing you write lyrics you are a song writter, if you play bass and write a solo you are a song writer.

[CaNaDaRoCkSoY]

I can write music, I have written several songs, one with the aid of a keyboardist. Although when it comes down to lyrics, I pass them off to others with better language skills.

[Bard2dbone]

I usually let my guitarist and keyboardist compose the melodies, while I wrote the lyrics. Sometimes I did both words and music.

[Peter Squire]

Depending on your band's viewpoint, it can mean almost anything.

U2 and Coldplay for example list each member of the band as the songwriters. This was an agreement between them to avoid any of the publishing royalty arguments that bands like the Beatles had.

I think if you are contributing something of your own composition to a song, then you are a songwriter. Hard for a drummer, I guess, if all he is doing is providing a standard 4/4 beat. Something like that can't really be copyrighted.

[Tash]

Steve Harris wrote most of Maiden's music AND lyrics.