This one just hit me about a week ago, and now, here it is done. I loved Mister Rogers and Sesame Street growing up. Some people decide to get over that phase but I guess I never did. Need more? I highly recommend The Mister Rogers Song Page. In the process of doing some research on this, I discovered that Mister Rogers is probably responsible for me being able to 'hear' jazz chords.

V1 - Optomistic encouragement

Growing up on PBS,
Gave me confidence, I guess.
I could do anything.
I could be anything.

Do I want to read?
(spoken) You can do it!
Want to tie my shoes?
(spoken) You can do it!
Wanna be a fireman or an astronaut?
I want to sing and dance?
(spoken) Just believe in yourself!

They all want me to be happy.
They all want to see me succeed.
Nobody wants me to stumble
And nobody wants me to bleed.


CHORUS:
Too much Mister Rogers,
Too much time on Sesame Street,
Too much living in the neighborhood of make believe.


V2 - Realistic discouragement

Nobody told me
How hard it would be
No one wrote a song about that.

(spoken) No sir!

Dreams are a burden you can't put down
When all the vultures are circling around
Where are they now, those encouraging voices?
I can hear nothing but unpleasant noises.

(spoken) Silly old person; dreams are for kids!

The world is full of selfishness
And people who hope you will fail.
Backstabbing fiends who will drink all the water
And leave you to die on the trail.

CHORUS
It's too much...
Mister Rogers,
Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?
Or catch a trolley to the neighborhood of make believe?

Hey, hey, Mister Rogers,
It's a beautiful day in your neighborhood
Where joy comes from stopping and smelling the flowers
And all of our troubles resolve in half-hours.


V3 - The bitter ex-dreamers

Some people seem
To need to crucify your dream.
Bitter and unfulfilled
Not happy 'til it's killed.

They act out their parts on the stage like a play
Cardboard characters folding away.

Do they live in a state of contentment?
In blissful, unending relentment?
No lingering trace of resentment?
And tell themselves everything's fine?

Yeah that'd be so easy
So stinking easy
Everybody knows
It's just a puppet show.

CHORUS
Hey, hey, Mister Rogers
Nobody lives on Sesame Street
Sould have known your neighborhood was always make believe.

Hey hey, Mister Rogers,
It's a cold, windy day in the neighborhood, When can I
come back inside to play and do the things you said I could?


V4 - I tried to quit but it was too hard

Sometimes when it seems so bleak,
Lick my wounds and I try to sleep
Deep inside I know,
I can never let go.

It's not exactly my fault
That I'm here with my really big plans
And I keep hanging on to them
Any way I can.
Any way I can.

CHORUS
Too much Mister Rogers,
Too much children's programming.
I've been told a thousand times I could do anything.

So don't ask me to give up
Or tell my dreams to hit the road.
'Cause I never learned how;
I must have missed that episode.

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