It's You I Like - Fred Rogers

UPDATE! Recording of this song to benefit Fred Rogers Productions, in Pittsburg, PA. Find it at www.danheidt.com/rogers

I can't imagine anyone else on television whom children have better related with and responded to than Mr. Rogers. He always made us feel important and special, and safe. He was also a die hard supporter of the arts and educational television for children. Mr. Rogers was a Presbyterian minister and accomplished musician and pianist. He wrote all of the songs on the show, and always had a song or a special message for kids for just about every topic imaginable, even the hard ones, like divorce and death.

As a child, I remember watching his show on TV and really believing that he actually thought that I, little Daniel, was special, and that he really liked me just the way I was, and that I made the day special, just by my being me. Who can do that these days? Certainly not a purple dinosaur or a trippy alien teletubby. When I learned that he was also a musician and actually wrote the songs that he sang, I was hooked.

I chose this song because it's relatable to children and adults, especially the line about how it's not your toys that are right beside you, but it's YOU i like. How many lessons have we learned in our lives from this man, and how many do we continue to take with us day to day without even knowing it?

Mr. Rogers said,

"As human beings, our job in life is to help people realize how rare and valuable each one of us really is, that each of us has something that no one else has--or ever will have--something inside that is unique to all time. It's our job to encourage each other to discover that uniqueness and to provide ways of developing its expression."

He was a visionary, an optimist, an idealist, and a kind man. And he was a great songwriter of relevant and important songs that will never get old.

Thanks, Mr. Rogers, for inspiring me to be not just a better songwriter, but a better person.

It's You I Like, by Fred Rogers.

It's you I like,
It's not the things you wear,
It's not the way you do your hair--
But it's you I like.
The way you are right now,
The way down deep inside you--
Not the things that hide you,
Not your toys--
They're just beside you.

But it's you I like--
Every part of you,
Your skin, your eyes, your feelings
Whether old or new.
I hope that you'll remember
Even when you're feeling blue
That it's you I like,
It's you yourself,
It's you, it's you I like.

Update: Lyrics and a rough arrangement of the chords I used can be found at www.danheidt.com/rogers.