Lady Gaga Covers Mr. Rogers’ ‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor?’… and Kills It

Lady Gaga has recorded her version of the theme song from the classic children’s show “Mr. Rogers‘ Neighborhood” for a Super Bowl commercial. If that sounds at all campy, you probably don’t know Gaga: she gives “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” her tender, balladic all in the minute-long rendition, making it feel more like an undervalued entry from the Great American Songbook than a kids’ song.

The question is: In 2026, does “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” count as a protest song?

Gaga hints at that topical interpretation, in a nearly four-minute making-of teaser that the sponsoring company, Rocket and Redfin, posted to promote the coming 60-second Super Bowl spot.

“Mr. Rogers was so clearly someone that stood for something, and it’s powerful to think of what he would say right now,” Gaga says, calling it “kind of a special song to revisit at this time.”

And perhaps not much more needs to be said about where one of the most iconic anthems devoted to human kindness lands anew in the current American climate, although much could.

The recording of the vocal-and-piano song itself lasts for about a minute, starting at the 1:52 point. Prior to and after that, Gaga is seen working out the arrangement at Shangri-La Studio in Malibu with her frequent collaborator, Benjamin Rice. “I need to figure out if I’m gonna take it up or sing it like the original,” she tells her partner. Needless to say, perhaps, she takes it up. Then, “I need to figure out a way to get to that big moment”… again, no spoiler, she does.

Rice talks about the much-studied songwriting prowess in the famous jazz aficionado Fred Rogers’ deceptively elemental-sounding tunes. He calls the “Neighbor” song “a simple melody with really complex chords. That combination, it’s hard to nail that, and it does — it’s a perfect song, in that way,” he adds.

Gaga says that “it was interesting to create something really heartfelt that keeps the purity and beauty of the original version, but does it in a new way.” She recalls her early memories of being a kid, watching the PBS show aimed at pre-schoolers, and thinking about how much the show meant to children who might not have felt alone with the gentle, avuncular host as their friend.

Rocket Mortgage has been a two-time Ad Meter winner in 2021-22, with spots featuring Anna Kendrick and Tracy Morgan. Last year, the company’s Super Bowl commercial featured shots of families and troops set to a new version of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”

Although it’s unlikely Gaga would deign to record a follow-up from the Mr. Rogers catalog, here are a few candidates she might consider that could feel apropos for the times: “Sometimes People Are Good,” “What Do You Do With the Mad That You Feel,” “When the Day Turns Into Night,” “Wishes Don’t Make Things Come True,” “The Truth Will Make Me Free,” “Be Brave, Be Strong,” “Good People Sometimes Do Bad Things” and, a possible anthem of hope for a nation in crisis, “You Can Never Go Down the Drain.”