Conversation so far:
how did they come up with the composition?
he would come up with the riffs, but I would be the finish guy for that.
I sat down and came up with the chorus, the bridges, and so forth.
Who composed the music?
"'Man on the Moon' was something that Bill [Berry] had, this one chord change that he came in with.
did it take a long time to compose?
I sat down and came up with the chorus, the bridges, and so forth.
I remember we showed it to Mike and Michael when they came in later.
what are the major instruments in the composition?
think Bill played bass and I played guitar; we kept going around with it.
what genre of music is this song?
Man on the Moon" is a mid-tempo country-rock song following a verse-chorus structure.
how many people were involved all together with composing this song?
Stipe recounted that the rest of the members of R.E.M.
had written and performed the music of the song and recorded it.
what is the most interesting thing regarding the composition of this song?
the lyrics were written independently of the music, which had no prior association with the song's eventual lyrical content regarding Kaufman.

Question: which came first, lyrics or composition?
Self-contained rewrite: which came first, lyrics or composition of Man on the Moon (song)?