12 CDs Done

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Is there something fishy about this?

WOW. I did a whole song from start to finish in about 3 hours today. The song is called "Whoa-Whoa-Whoa, Eet's Jacques Cousteau". 

I think the vocals turned out really well, but what I'm really excited about are the awesome guitar parts. Whoops, and the awesome songwriting of Marla Lewis.

Here is the track, comment, like, share, +1, tweet… Whatever, you'll find the lyrics at the bottom… still have to do the vocals for the song I was recording last night...next!





Whoa- Whoa- Whoa, Eet’s Jacques Cousteau!

‘Neath the ocean waves where the Jellyfish play
(Scuba-doobah-doo-bop, Scuba-doobah-do)
With the Manatee and the Manta Ray
(Scuba-doobah-doo-bop, Scuba-doobah-do)
Where the Coral Reef and the Seaweed are friends
A Frogman peered through his camera lens!

Whoa- Whoa- Whoa, Eet’s Jacques Cousteau!
(Scuba-doobah-doo-bop, Scuba-doobah-doo)
I say, Whoa- Whoa- Whoa, Eet’s Jacques Cousteau!
(Scuba-doobah-doo-bop, Wow!)

On his ship, Calypso He sailed the seas
(Scuba-doobah-doo-bop, Scuba-doobah-do)
To study earth’s marine life and mysteries!
(Scuba-doobah-doo-bop, Scuba-doobah-do)
Yeah, he sailed with the Whales and the Porpoises, too
Alaska down to the shores of Peru!
Whoa- Whoa- Whoa, Eet’s Jacques Cousteau!
(Scuba-doobah-doo-bop, Scuba-doobah-doo)
I say, Whoa- Whoa- Whoa, Eet’s Jacques Cousteau!
 (Scuba-doobah-doo-bop, Wow!)
With his Aqualung, he could breathe underwater
Now his dream lives on, through his sons and his daughter!

Whoa- Whoa- Whoa, Eet’s Jacques Cousteau!
(Scuba-doobah-doo-bop, Scuba-doobah-doo)
I say, Whoa- Whoa- Whoa, Eet’s Jacques Cousteau!
 (Scuba-doobah-doo-bop, Wow!)



Diving Into the Next Song

Hello, good morning!


Didn't sleep much last night, but I don't really care… I will try to get this CD done by the week.

Later today I plan to finish the vocals for the song I was working on late last night, called "Lotta Good in There", did you hear it yet? it's the previous post, music only… It rocks.

Today I'm kicking off with a song written by Grammy award-winning songwriter Marla Lewis about But I don't really care… I will try to get this CD done by the week.

Later today I plan to finish the vocals for the song I was working on late last night, called "Lotta Good in There", did you hear it yet? it's the previous post, music only… It rocks.




Today I'm kicking off with a song written by Grammy award-winning songwriter Marla Lewis about Jacques Cousteau.


I'm starting this project from scratch, no idea what it will end up looking like. All I have is a simple demo from Marla.


SIDEBAR-I got Dragon Express for my Mac yesterday so I can talk instead of type, faster...BUT...helpful hint from Mr. Billy, don't plan to eat breakfast (or any other meal) while trying to dictate...it's just not pretty. Put the bagel down sir...step away from the bagel...


OK, OK, back on track...hey I finished the bagel, hold on...



Okay now that I'm done with my bagel, I can get back to talking and typing. No, my bagel is gone… So it's time to get back to work and record this awesome song.

Time to put on my flippers, mask, snorkel and dive in!




It's 3 AM, time to record or go to bed?

Time to record...no... it's time to quit and go to bed (yes I do sleep...occasionally).

I started this track today and life got in the way...again...but this time I kicked in the you know where. My brain was working overtime, couldn't sleep so I went out to the kitchen and finished a music track for a new song Dave Kinnoin and I are working on. I won't tell you the title or share the lyrics right now...let the music speak for itself. (Oops, I guess the title is a wash, Soundcloud put it in the play window, don't look!).

In my sleepy head I thought that maybe you might like to listen in on a work in progress...Mmmm???

Here is the track, I'll do vocals tomorrow...don't want to wake the family...bad idea...nobody likes a grumpy mommy....SHhhh.....listen to it softly....

Anything I should fix or change? Any other ideas? Let me know...enjoy!!!



OH, are you still here? I thought I would let you know, I'm looking for songs about superheroes (not Superman), got any songs you've written, plan to write or just something cool you heard? Pass it on to me PLEASE!

Monday, July 23, 2012

The Never Ending (CD) Story

Like the never ending piano chord at the end of the Beatle classic A Day in the Life, creating the next CD in my 12 CD series is taking FOREVER! It makes me very sad. See my sad face?

I have no idea what is up with this CD!!! I've been at it now for over 2 months! Now, by most mortal standards this is perfectly acceptable, but I hold myself up to a higher (insane?) standard.

As I sit here in a post illness haze with my studio, pills, vitamins, headphones and fortune cookie in front of me I am ready to push on and get this CD done!

As you know (since you're reading this blog) I am attempting to record 12 CDs this year. Now to meet my goal I need to try to release about one CD a month, I figure it takes about 2 weeks to record and week to mix, master and send to the manufacturer...then a week to recover and plan the next CD. SIMPLE! It worked great for CDs 1-4...but starting in the month of May the bottom dropped out.

Before I go on with my following rant I want to say that I am still totally committed to recording and releaseing 12 CDs before the end of the world, I mean the end of the year...I WILL DO IT.

But how did I end up here? Excuses, excuses...

Well, starting in May my gig schedule increased and by the summer months I was touring non stop, doing 2-4 (sometimes 6) shows a day and driving up to 6 hours a day...Mmmmm....

This CD is quite different, for one this it was the first project I planned in advance, even did the artwork before recording!

I am working with awesome co-writers, the songs are very different, more complex then usual since this CD is aimed at an older audience and teachers.

For some reason almost every time I scheduled recording time I ended up sick or someone in the family was sick or needed me....to be expected, life...

I pit my foot down and decided to finish the whole thing last weekend until I got the worst stomach flu of my life...I am just now getting out of bed, BUT...somehow I did manage to record a new song while in bed yesterday morning and I plan to share it with you now. It's called GOOD PLACE.

I posted about this song a while back, one of my reader Kids Music Planet Podcast host Lisa Harper replied with lyric changes, we started a dialog and her ideas were so good I decided to give her writing credits, thanks Lisa!

The basic tracks were done on my iPad in the kitchen at a slower tempo. I moved it to the Mac and added vocals and effects while insanely sick yesterday.

It's heavily influenced by 1980's synth pop bands like Depeche Mode and Soft Cell. Hope you like it...comments please?



Good Place
(c) 2012 Doctors Orders Music, BMI
By Lisa Harper and William Charles Grisack III

If you're working hard to be
Fair and caring, honestly...
That's a good place
If you try to stay on track
When no ones there to pat your back
That's a good place

But when you feel like there's no hope
You can't even start to cope
Can't walk or run with the human race
That's a bad place

Do you remember any time
Something almost changed your mind
To that good place?
Forgive yourself and let it go
Respect yourself and you will know
A good place

A bully here, a pothole there
The world is filled with such despair
One by one you can save a face
From a bad place

If you want to heal your heart
Good Character's a place to start
Step by step you can set the pace
Toward that good place


Sunday, July 8, 2012

My dad gets a makeover


Yesterday I posted "My Dad (Man of Honor)" and asked for feedback...boy did I get it.

Timmy and his family loved it all, but just about everyone else loved the music, songwriting and production, but the vocal...not so much (this includes Mrs. Billy).

I've been learning to sing better and my voice is getting higher, but I think I got a little carried away on this one. TIP FOR SINGERS-if you feel faint after each chorus...LOWER THE KEY!

So I did and recorded it at 1 am in my living room, trying not to wake the sleeping redhead. So here it is, the new and (hopefully improved) "My Dad (Man of Honor)"...comments please....




Saturday, July 7, 2012

I'm a Funky Citizen


The next song added to my "Character" CD is a song that I've been doing live at the Good Character Rocks! show with Wil on drums called "Citizenship". We wrote it before a gig in Michigan and we've been doing it ever since.

This is the first recording of it. At the show we let the kids pick the things we sing in each verse, but I picked the top three for this recording.

For some odd reason at added a BASS SOLO to the end of the song, I have no idea why, except that I've never done that before and I think I'm a decent bass player...what do you think?

The track is very funky, I like it. Here is the track...no lyrics, I think you can figure this one out.



Timmy, The Beatles and "My Dad"

There is a family that comes to just about all my shows in Northeastern Wisconsin. A mom, two girls and a little boy named Timmy. I love these guys! I also love The Beatles, but that is another part of the story, more about Timmy...

So about a year ago Timmy asked me to do a fire truck song...at every show he asked if i did it and about a year later I did. It's an awesome song, one of my regular songs I do at just about every show. Now, that got me thinking, in a little kids world a year is a lifetime, that guy was really determined and waited (wow and kids with patience?), anyway he recently asked me to do a song about a serviceman...military guy. This time I decided not to wait another year, so I got on it ASAP.

The lyrics came first (as usual for me), I sent them to Timmy's mom and he approved.

Musically I've been listening to a lot of Beatles, actually non stop because my daughter is a HUGE Beatles fan. So I decided to try to hit two stones with one (not so angry) bird, and do a kinda Beatles inspired music track.

It is finished, I am another song closer to getting this CD done (#5...yes I am 2 CDs behind schedule now...but the year is not over!). Taelor loves is (said I'm a genius, the best thing I've ever done), Timmy hasn't had a chance to chime in yet. Now it's your turn, what do you think? Here is the track with lyrics below...



My Dad

(c) 2012 William Charles Grisack III

He leads a double life
He has my mom his wife
A house a dog and family
But when duty calls
He has to drop it all
And switch his reality

He's a serviceman
Protecting our nation
From every threat evil or or bad
A military man
A person of character
When he has to leave I'm both proud and sad
He's my dad 

It must be hard
Serving our country
To leave your whole world behind
But maybe that
Is why he has to do it
So we can live with peace in mind

He's a serviceman
Protecting our nation
From every threat evil or or bad
A military man
A person of character
When he has to leave I'm both proud and sad
He's my dad 

Every time he walks out the door
My admiration for him soars


He's a serviceman
Protecting our nation
From every threat evil or or bad
A military man
A person of character
When he has to leave I'm both proud and sad
He's my dad