Ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive- artist: johnny mercer as sung on "remember the 40's-music of the war years vol. iv, 1941-45" cema special markets (capitol-emi) cdl-57367- peak billboard position # 1 in 1945- competing versions charted by bing crosby and the andrews sisters (#2), artie shaw (#5), and kay kyser (#12)- words and music by harold arlen and johnny mercer<intro is slow and bluesy>gather 'round me, everybodygather 'round me while i'm preachin'feel a sermon comin' on methe topic will be sin and that's what i'm ag'in'if you wanna hear my storythe settle back and just sit tightwhile i start reviewin'the attitude of doin' right<tempo picks up>you've got to accentuate the positiveeliminate the negativeand latch on to the affirmativedon't mess with mister in-betweenyou've got to spread joy up to the maximumbring gloom down to the minimumhave faith or pandemonium'sliable to walk upon the sceneto illustrate my last remarkjonah in the whale, noah in the arkwhat did they do just when everything looked so dark?(man, they said "we'd better accentuate the positive")("eliminate the negative")("and latch on to the affirmative")don't mess with mister in-between (no!)don't mess with mister in-between(ya got to spread joy up to the maximum) <mixed with an indecipherable falsetto>(bring gloom down to the minimum) <mixed with an indecipherable falsetto>(have faith or pandemonium's)(liable to walk upon the scene)you got to ac (yes, yes) -cent-tchu-ate the positiveeliminate (yes, yes) the negative and latch (yes, yes) on to the affirmativedon't mess with mister in-betweenno, don't mess with mister in-betweentranscribed by robin hoodthese lyrics were transcribed from the specific recording mentioned aboveand do not necessarily correspond with lyrics from other recordings, sheetmusic, songbooks or lyrics printed on album jackets.