Ninety Nine (Plus) Opi

by Robert J. Marks II

Introduction
[ Prose, Lyrics, Lead Sheets & Audio ]

 

My music tracks my growth and mental state. Many of my songs are milestone markers in my life. The songs before I became a Christian are markedly different than those after.  I can relate each song very clearly to an incident or a feeling.

My music was not the commercial success I had hoped it would be -but what the hey. It has brought me, and many of those close to me, a lot of fun.

There is a gradient of improvement in lyrics with respect to time. Many of the early lyrics are like the top 40 songs I grew up with - youthful misconceptions and pop song cliches. I remain quite proud of most of my melodies - even the early ones. Some, I have used over and other. While I'm bragging -some of my lyrics are also very good. Some are stand-alone poetry.

I usually write the melody first. I relate with the idea that the melodies are there in the ether, waiting to enter any creative brain open to reception. Some melodies seem to write themselves. Others have a type of mathematical progression to them, and are more mechanical.

The first twenty one songs I wrote are listed in alphabetical order. I wrote them before I left Garfield Hts., Ohio, to go to college in the summer of 1968.  I was 17.

The 99th, finished in 1994, is written for my extraordinary daughter, Marilee.

Number 107, written for my awesome grandson, Tristan, was finished in August 2011 three months after his birth.

 

[ Prose & Lead Sheets ]