Detroit & Yessian Sing Thanks for Driver Safety

We’ve all been there: rushing around during the holidays — heck, every day! — trying to do ‘all the things.’

Suddenly you realize you’re driving a car while doing all the things, and nearly run off the road. Cold sweat prickles your skin as you realize for a split second how fricking lucky you are. How lucky everyone driving and cycling and walking around you is.

Dan Yessian wasn’t so lucky a few years ago, when he was rear-ended by a distracted driver.

“I was watching the driver: they were looking down in their lap. They’d never say so, but they were looking at their phone,“ recalls Dan.

His experience — and gratitude he was able to walk away that day — gave him plenty of material last year when he was approached to craft the distracted driving prevention song “Not in My Car'“ for America’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in downtown Detroit.

“It was an incredibly rewarding experience,” Dan says, adding that this year’s repeat performance is a nice touch. “It’s always nice to have your work reprised and to help people live.”

The composition was written for the Detroit Academy of Arts and Sciences Choir to perform on their float, sponsored by the Lear Corp., which the choir is reprising again tomorrow, with their float appearing during broadcast some time between at 10:30-11:00am.

Working with the youth choir was a joy for Dan, who said he was especially impressed with how enthusiastic the students were for the song’s theme of saying “No!” to distracted driving, including in their own families’ cars.

“What a wonderful group of kids!” says Dan. “They were unbelievable, so enthused and excited to do this.“

The children, in grades third through eighth, also experienced professionally recording the song at Yessian Music’s Detroit studio ahead of their parade performance last year. The song has since become a choir favorite.

“When the kids heard they were going to sing that song again this year? The squeals of glee! They love that song.“ says Choir Director Angela Kee. “As soon as they hear the sounds of car horns at the beginning of the song, they leap from their desks and are ready to rehearse and perform, They adore that song.”

She said the kids have also taken the song’s message to heart, including in their own family cars:

“They come and tell me, “Mrs. Kee. My mom was eating an Egg McMuffin on the way to school. I sang the song and she put it down!”

Kee added that this year’s students are also thankful to be performing the song again soon as featured performers in San Francisco, with their trip and performance fully sponsored by the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau.

“I think folks need to hear this song,” Kee says, on why she’s selected the song to go along with several Motown standards in their San Fran set. “We are the Motor City. And this has a universal theme.”

This Thanksgiving, when Dan and his extended Yessian family (there will be over 30 of them) gather together again this year, he says they will be giving “thanks for us being alive, and not struck by a distracted driver.”

“It doesn’t work, people trying to cut their time in half,” he adds. “Tough laws really need to be put in place.”

Outstanding food for thought as we all take a moment to breathe in and give thanks. This year, please also consider taking a moment before starting your car, to make sure your driving is focused on your driving and fellow drivers, and not your to-do list.

Deep thanks to Dan and the DAAS for their heartfelt reminder. And best of luck at the parade tomorrow!