Mixing notation and lyric entry

[Michael Ellis]

Is there a clean way to enter a phrase followed by the corresponding notes in a \relative block?  The example given in the docs,

{
  \time 3/4
  \relative c' { c2 e4 g2. }
  \addlyrics { play the game }
}

is fine for a small example, but it gets messy for longer music.   I do a lot of transcribing choral parts out of printed scores and would like to be able to keep the lyrics together with the music in chunks of a few bars, e.g. something like

themusic = \relative do {

   <snip>

    \withlyrics { Stir- ring be- yond your watch- ful eye. } {
    do2 do4 do |
    do4 re do la |
    \time 3/4 re2. |
    }

   
    \withlyrics { Though they may not flow- er, flow- er, } {
    \time 2/4 sol,4 do |
    \time 2/2 fa,2 mi2 |
    re4( mi) fa( la) |
    \time 3/4 te2 la4 |    

   }

<snip>

}    

I'm finding that I make fewer errors and can fix the ones I do make faster if the lyrics are close to the notation.  As it is now, I have to re-enter (cut, paste & edit)  the lyrics in a separate \lyricmode block.  Any suggestions for how to write the \withLyrics function?  Or is there an existing clean solution I haven't found yet?

Thanks,
Mike