A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood Read online

  Contents

  Won’t You Be My Neighbor? 12

  Mister Rogers’ Invitation 14

  Be the Best of Whatever You Are 16

  I Like You as You Are 17

  I Think I’m Going to Like Today 18

  I Give a Hoot for You 20

  Children Can 22

  It’s Good to Talk 24

  Things Are Different 25

  A Place of My Own 26

  Smile in Your Pocket 28

  You Are You 29

  What Do You Do with the Mad That You Feel? 30

  I Love to Shine 32

  Fences 34

  Doing Song 36

  Les Jours de la Semaine (The Days of the Week) 38

  Take My Time 41

  What Can You Hear? 42

  I’m Busy Being Busy 44

  I Did, Too 46

  Sometimes Isn’t Always 48

  Everybody’s Shy Sometimes 49

  I’d Like to Be Like Mom and Dad 50

  You Can Never Go Down the Drain 52

  The Clown in Me 54

  We Are Elephants 56

  Summer Rain 58

  It’s an Ugly Day 61

  I’m Glad I’m the Way I Am 62

  Walking Giraffe 63

  I’m Still Myself Inside 64

  Everything Grows Together 65

  It Hurts to Be Lonely 66

  Are You Brave? 67

  Parents Were Little Once, Too 68

  Did You Know? 69

  It’s You I Like 71

  What Do You Think Is Important? 72

  Many Ways to Say I Love You 74

  Please Don’t Think It’s Funny 76

  Let’s Be Together Today 78

  You’re Growing 80

  Some Things I Don’t Understand 82

  When a Baby Comes 84

  The King and the Ocean 87

  Sometimes I Wonder If I’m a Mistake 88

  A Bird-Watching Song 91

  You Are Special 92

  Creation Duet 93

  Who Shall I Be Today? 94

  Good People Sometimes Do Bad Things 96

  You’re Much More 98

  I Need You 100

  I’m Interested in Things 102

  I Like to Be Told 104

  I Hope It Will Rain 106

  A Lonely Kind of Thing 108

  Sometimes People Are Good 110

  I’m Tame 112

  Then Your Heart Is Full of Love 115

  The Truth Will Make Me Free 116

  Wishes Don’t Make Things Come True 118

  You’ve Got to Do It 120

  You’re the Only One 122

  It’s the People You Like the Most 123

  Love Is People 124

  You’re Special 126

  Find a Star 128

  A Smile’s the Style 130

  This Is Just the Day 131

  Perfect Day 132

  I’m Proud of You 134

  Tomorrow 135

  It’s Such a Good Feeling 136

  Index 138

  About Fred Rogers 140

  My name is Mister Rogers.

  I’m glad that you are near.

  You’ve made this day a special day

  By just your being here.

  —From the opening song of the Canadian show Misterogers,

  the precursor of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood

  Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

  It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood

  A beautiful day for a neighbor.

  Would you be mine?

  Could you be mine?

  It’s a neighborly day in this beauty wood

  A neighborly day for a beauty.

  Would you be mine?

  Could you be mine?

  I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you!

  I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you,

  So . . .

  Let’s make the most of this beautiful day

  Since we’re together, we might as well say

  Would you be mine?

  Could you be mine?

  Won’t you be my neighbor?

  Won’t you please,

  Won’t you please?

  Please won’t you be my neighbor?

  Mister Rogers’ Invitation

  Would you like to meet the tiger

  Who lives there in that clock?

  Or see that Eiffel Tower

  And hear a French man talk?

  Would you like to use a telephone?

  It’s a tin can on a string

  That lets you reach the castle

  Where a most majestic king

  His Majesty King Friday

  is in charge of everything!

  Would you like to ride a trolley

  Along that trolley track?

  Or crawl right through the underpass—

  Right through and then right back?

  Then pop into this house here,

  Come in and visit me.

  There’s lots for us to see and hear

  And think and do and feel and be.

  My name is Mister Rogers.

  I’m glad that you are near.

  You’ve made this day a special day

  By just your being here.

  Be the Best of

  Whatever You Are

  If you can’t be a pine

  On the top of a hill

  Be a shrub in the valley, but be

  The best little shrub by the side of the rill.

  If you can’t be a woods

  Be a tree.

  If you can’t be a highway

  Then just be a trail.

  If you can’t be the sun

  Be a star.

  It isn’t by size that you win or you fail.

  Be the best of whatever you are.

  Be the best of whatever you are!

  I Like You as You Are

  I like you as you are

  Exactly and precisely!

  I think you turned out nicely

  And I like you as you are.

  I like you as you are

  Without a doubt or question

  Or even a suggestion

  ’Cause I like you as you are.

  I like your disposition

  Your facial composition

  And with your kind permission

  I’ll shout it to a star.

  I like you as you are

  I wouldn’t want to change you

  Or even rearrange you

  Not by far.

  I like you, I-L-I-K-E-Y-O-U.

  I like you, yes I do,

  I like you, Y-O-U.

  I like you, like you as you are.

  Lyrics by Josie Carey, Music by Fred Rogers

  I Think I’m Going to Like Today

  I think I’m going to like today

  I think I’ll call it fine

  I’ll wrap it in ribbons

  And make it mine.

  I think I’m going to like today

  It’s very plain to see

  I like every minute

  And it likes me.

  Don’t you agree?

  This is the nicest day in the neighborhood

  The nicest day in the calendar

  The nicest day in the hemisphere for me.

  I think I’m going to like today

  It’s been the best by far.

  I got it by wishing

  On last night’s star.

  I think I’m going to like today

  And when today is through

  I’ll catch it and keep it

  As good as new.

  I’ll have the nicest day in the neighborhood

  The nicest day in th
e calendar

  The nicest day will just stay at home with me.

  I think I’m going to like today.

  I Give a Hoot for You

  Oh, I give a hoot for you

  ’Cause golly, you’re neat!

  Yes, I give a hoot for you

  You simply couldn’t be beat.

  You’re nice as pie and really, I

  Don’t know when, why, or what!

  But I’ve got to say, that in every way,

  You’re my “fa-vo-rut.”

  Oh, I give a hoot for you

  You’re swell, that’s how I feel!

  Yes, I give a hoot for you

  You’re absolutely for real.

  I’m hoping, too, as I hoot for you

  That you will soon agree

  To hoot and howl like this wise old owl

  And give a hoot for me: “Hoot!”

  Lyrics by Josie Carey, Music by Fred Rogers

  Children Can

  Who can crawl under a table?

  Who can sit under a chair?

  Who can fit their feet in little shoes

  And sleep most anywhere?

  Who can play very much longer

  Play much harder than grownups ever dare?

  You’re a child so you can do it.

  You can do it anywhere!

  Who can wake up every morning

  And be ready right away?

  Who can notice all the tiny things

  That other people say?

  Who can make the things they play with

  Something different for every single day?

  You’re a child and you can do it.

  You can do it any way!

  Roll in the grass

  Squoosh in the mud

  Lick an ice cream cone

  Sing to a bass

  Splash in a flood

  By a stepping stone . . .

  all alone.

  Who can put your hand in my hand

  And be ready to feel all safe and strong?

  You’re a child so you can do it.

  Children do it all life long!

  It’s Good to Talk

  It’s good to talk

  It’s good to say the things we feel

  It’s good to talk.

  We’re much more real without the lot.

  It’s good to talk

  It’s good to find someone to trust

  It’s good to talk.

  We know we must do more than balk.

  People weren’t born to be silent

  Our tongues make wonderful sounds.

  Just try a few phrases for practice

  You’ll see there are very few bounds.

  Let’s see now: “I like you. I’m angry.

  I’m happy. I’m sad.”

  You see? That’s not bad.

  It’s good, not bad.

  It’s good to talk.

  It’s good to say the things we mean.

  It’s good to talk of all we’ve seen and heard and felt for

  And wished and knelt for.

  We need to talk more.

  It’s good to talk.

  Things Are Different

  You never know the story

  By the cover of the book.

  You can’t tell what a dinner’s like

  By simply looking at the cook.

  It’s something everybody needs to know

  Way down deep inside

  That things are often different

  Than the way they look.

  When I put on a costume

  To play a fancy part

  That costume changes just my looks.

  It doesn’t change my heart.

  You cannot know what someone’s thinking

  By the picture you just took

  ’Cause things are often different

  From the way they look.

  A Place of My Own

  I like to have a place of my own

  A place where I can be by myself.

  When I want to think and play by myself

  I like to have a place of my own.

  I like to have a place of my own

  A step on a staircase, a drawer or a chair,

  A corner, a spot anywhere,

  A place I can call my own.

  Dishes have places

  So do pots and pans

  Beds and bathtubs

  Shoes and socks.

  Tables have places

  So do faces and hands.

  Houses have places

  Keys have locks.

  I like to have a place of my own

  A place where I can be by myself.

  When I want to play and think by myself

  I like to have a place of my own.

  Smile in Your Pocket

  There’s a smile in your pocket

  There’s a smile up your sleeve

  There’s a smile in your pocket

  And it isn’t make-believe.

  There’s a smile in your pocket

  There’s a smile in your shoe

  There’s a smile in your pocket

  Without anything to do.

  Now, a pocket is handy for candy

  And dandy for string.

  A pocket is nifty for folks who are thrifty

  With wrappers and rings—

  All sorts of things.

  But a smile in your pocket

  Feels a bit out of place

  ’Cause a smile in your pocket

  Wants to be on your face!

  Lyrics by Josie Carey, Music by Fred Rogers

  You Are You

  I eat and you do, too.

  You sleep and I do, too.

  I wake up and you do, too.

  So we two do so much the same—

  But I’m Mister Rogers

  And you have your name.

  You are you and I am I

  And we will always be

  Quite different to people who know us well

  ’Cause they’re the ones who like us to be different.

  You are you and I am I

  And we will never be

  Exactly like anybody else

  ’Cause everybody else is different.

  Different, different, we are different.

  Isn’t it great?

  To be different!

  You and I and he and she

  And isn’t it great to be you and I?

  And we will always be

  Quite different to people who know us well.

  ’Cause they’re the ones who like us

  They really want us

  They’re the ones who like us to be different.

  What Do You Do

  with the Mad That You Feel?

  What do you do with the mad that you feel

  When you feel so mad you could bite?

  When the whole wide world seems oh so wrong

  And nothing you do seems very right?

  What do you do? Do you punch a bag?

  Do you pound some clay or some dough?

  Do you round up friends for a game of tag?

  Or see how fast you go?

  It’s great to be able to stop

  When you’ve planned a thing that’s wrong

  And be able to do something else instead

  And think this song:

  I can stop when I want to

  Can stop when I wish

  I can stop, stop, stop anytime.

  And what a good feeling to feel like this

  And know that the feeling is really mine.

  Know that there’s something deep inside

  That helps us become what we can.

  For a girl can be someday a woman

  And a boy can be someday a man.

  I Love to Shine

  I love to shine, I love to shine

  I love to let what’s in me

  Shine outside.

  I love to shine, I love to shine

  I love to let what’s in me

  Shine outside.
br />   The world needs all the light

  That we can muster

  Each moon and star and comet

  In the sky.

  We add to all the world

  Our special luster

  So shine on, friends,

  And never question why.

  We love to shine,

  We love to shine

  We love to let what’s in us

  Shine outside.

  We love to let what’s in us

  Shine outside.

  Fences

  Fences, fences, the world is full of fences

  And some I like

  And some I don’t like

  That keep me out.

  Now the kind that keep me out

  Are the kind that make me pout.

  They’re the kind that have no gate at all.

  They’re the kind that go up too tall.

  Fences, fences, the world is full of fences

  And some I like.

  Yes, some I do like.

  The kind that keep me safe.

  Now, the kind that keep me safe, you see

  Are the kind that keep wild beasts from me.

  They’re the kind that help me stop my car

  So I never have to go too far.

  Fences, fences, the world is full of fences.

  From what I see

  They’re a help to me.

  And the ones I hate

  I can tolerate.