I always wonder why people can take three chords and come up with a good melody. I can play the same chords and I can’t come up with anything worth listening to.
Diana, “putting it to music” is what’s copyrighted. Like Chet Atkins once said “It’s the Country MUSIC Association. Not the country poets’ association.”
Example: The Byrds TURN, TURN, TURN taken directly from the Bible
I just used Sting as an example; of course there are others.