Writing songs on a bass?

[uberpsycho]

Does anyone here have success or experience writing pop songs on a bass?

Is it easier, or does the work come out better, when you write on a bass as opposed to a guitar or a piano?

And what's the key difference in writing music on a bass, instead of a chordal instrument? (that is to say writing the base structure of a song)

Some of my favorite bassists are the ones who are the songwriters and singers of their respective group (Julian Cope, Mark Burgess, Steve Kilbey) but I only know that Burgess wrote songs on a bass early in his band's tenure (and damn fine music at that). In addition to being a quality bass players I would like to also be a quality songwriter (overambitious maybe?) but I am worried that there would be an issue in finding chord quality and not having the bass overpower the rest of the music.

Of course, a song is never just on a bass and after the kernel of a tune is formed, it goes through many processes before it can be called a song but how much a song do you, or other bassists, create before additions are made? Is it common for bassists to write songs in bands on a bass and not on another instrument?

Thanks for any help. I'm still new to music and this site, so apologies if a thread like this has been done.

Bonus Question: Not that I'm a singer, but is there any secret to playing bass and singing at the same time, or is it just something you work on until you have the ability?

Bonus Bonus Question: Do you write the music or the lyrics first?

 

[BassTapp]

Personally, I find it really difficult to write any sort of music on the bass first, generally I will wait until a guitar or piano progression is developed and then go from there.
As for the bonus questions - Singing and playing at the same time is really tricky and takes (like with many things, lots of practice) start with basic tunes you can play the bassline to without even needing to think about, I still find these a challenge when trying to sing. As for the order, in my band the songs written by myself have all had their lyrics written first but the other writing members tend to have the music knocked off before they even think of any lyrics. I guess moral of that story is; there is no set way to go about writing, just make use of whatever method you feel comfortable with.