Mr. Rogers -- a good guy

I know this is very after-the-fact -- May 4, 2005, versus Feb. 27, 2003 -- but it's still too bad that Mr. Rogers died. Apparently, he was a really nice guy. As opposed to, say, Hugh Grant, who plays nice guys but is supposedly obnoxious in person. Plus, nice guys with girlfriends [supermodel or not] don't visit hookers. Bad, bad Mr. Grant.

I've noticed that only nice people seem to die. Or at least, that's how it's reported in the papers. "Blerby Blahblah was kindly, grand, noble, generous..."

But, maybe it's just that the real stinkers don't make it to the features page.

Anyhow: Mr. Rogers. Curiously, Aussies don't know about him. They have Playschool, and Sesame Street -- but not Mr. Rogers. And that's a shame.

I knew he played piano, but until doing a bit of a web search, I didn't realize that he wrote his own songs. I did a web search because I was curious about the full lyrics for his theme song: "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor..."

Found a whole slew of songs. The official list -- which includes sheet music for some of the better-known songs -- is at the official PBS "Mr. Rogers" site at http://pbskids.org/rogers/songlist/

He wrote good lyrics. Like:

It's such a happy feeling: You're growing inside.
And when you wake up ready to say,
"I think I'll make a snappy new day."
It's such a good feeling, a very good feeling,
The feeling you know that we're friends.

Maybe corny, maybe sappy -- but well-chosen. And the melodies are catchy. That's hard to do: match thoughtful lyrics to a catchy tune.

If you actually mean the lyrics, and believe it, then it's not corny, or sappy (or "ironic") -- just swell. :)

--Tall Guy