PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FRED ROGERS COMPANY | Yes, we are tough, we are girded against an unforgiving world, the headlines make us quake each day and now winter is coming. But, oh my gosh, the tinkly piano and reassuring voice of Fred Rogers will make you melt all over again, be you tattooed metal head or cynical indie rocker. We at TVD are only too happy to make your day, save your week, instill one tiny fiber of hope with the premiere of “Many Ways to Say I Love You” from Mister Rogers.
It’s a vinyl-only bonus track from a new vinyl version of It’s Such a Good Feeling: The Best of Mister Rogers. The Omnivore Recordings CD/digital version came out in October, well in advance of the big Tom Hanks movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood that will be released November 22.
But on that same day, a translucent cardigan-red vinyl version of It’s Such a Good Feeling comes out, exclusively at Barnes & Noble, with two extra tracks not on the CD/digital version. That one of them is “Many Ways to Say I Love You” makes you instantly think: How could they have left it off in the first place? How would we otherwise hear of the cooking way to say I love you? The eating way? The cleaning way? The drawing way? Mister Rogers had a way to stick it right to your heart, in a sincere and kindly, totally non-cynical way—a trolley train express right back to your childhood.
Years ago, an occasional small fry would sometimes be startled by me, because of my name and my penchant for coming in a room, removing my coat and putting on a sweater, that I might be their friend from TV. I was not Mister Rogers, but I liked the idea somebody thought I was.
The moment you hear Fred Rogers start to sing this you may think: Oh, this must be a parody; he’s been skewered so much over the years. But no, it’s something more like the truth, backed up by the tasteful jazz of pianist Johnny Costa (featured on the accompanying CD and digital re-release, Johnny Costa Plays Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Jazz). The simple honesty of it makes me want to hear a Jonathan Richman cover of it, a Sufjan Stevens cover. Or one by Destroyer.
“No record collection should be without a little Mister Rogers,” says Cheryl Pawelski, co-founder of Omnivore Records who put together the package. “So it’s a beautiful day in the record store.”
