Dan - Lyrics Michael - Guitar, Vocals

Dan says: Michael send me a prompt on the first day and I sent him a set of lyrics and little voice memo. And he sent back this version to post! 🙌🎶🤘

Long story short… there is a lot of division and fear of what is different and/or what we don’t know.

I was telling him about a newer neighbor that came over and helped me because he saw that I was doing some yard work over at my parent’s house. And I helped him haul by hauling some tree branches the next day.

…Or how big cities like NYC always had a certain reputation, people (mostly who had never been there) warned me about them and I had preconceived notions before I went there for the first time but it wasn’t the same as the reality of my actual experiences with the neighborhoods and the people that I met.

Michael says:

What was fun - and which I rarely do and need to do more of - is write off of a vocal line. While I didn't stay absolutely faithful to Dan's voice memo, it inspired what translated to the guitar. And it was exciting to play and sing what came out.

On the subject matter, Dan does a wonderful job of writing uplifting lyrics. Another thing I'd like to do more of. Living in the NE of the USA - specifically NJ - we're often misunderstood. Yeah, we can be rough (and drive like 💩). But under all that gruffness is a lot of love. I tried to translate that a bit to the overall structure and tone.

#collaboration #folk #acoustic

Ring the Bells (Rejoice & Jubilee) - September 5, 2026

If we’ve gonna get through this You gotta stay on top of it And if we go down We’ll go down together

CHORUS: So, make some noise And ring the bells Come on, now dance We’re gonna sing Whole Community Melody, Harmonies Rejoice and jubilee

You gotta keep an eye open And keep your heart full Hard to keep hope tethered We will all stand together

You gotta use your voice For the silenced ones Hand in hand in hand and… Let’s all sing together