(Johnny Mercer,
Harold Arlen)
Transcribed from vocals by Bing Crosby and the
Andrews Sisters,
From Those Wonderful Years, Juke Box Saturday
Night, 1940 Pop Hits, JCI, JCD-7009.
[Italics: Andrews Sisters or Bing together with the Andrews Sisters; plain text is Bing alone.)
You've got to accentuate the positive,
Eliminate the negative,
Latch on to the affirmative,
Don't mess with Mr. Inbetween.
You've got to spread joy up to the
maximum,
Bring gloom down to the minimum,
Have faith, or pandemonium
Liable to walk upon the scene.
To illustrate
His last remark:
Jonah in the whale,
Noah in the arc,
What did they do
Just when everything looked
so dark?
Man, they said we'd better
Accentuate the positive,
Eliminate the negative,
Latch on to the affirmative,
Don't mess with Mr. Inbetween.
No, do not mess with Mr. Inbetween,
Do you hear me, hmm?
Oh, listen to me, chillen, and-a
you will hear,
About the 'liminating of the
negative,
And the accent on the positive!
Gather 'round me, chillen, if you're
willin'
And sit tight, while I start reviewin'
The attitude of viewin' right.
You've got to accentuate the
positive,
Eliminate the negative,
Latch on to the affirmative,
Don't mess with Mr. Inbetween.
You've got to spread joy up to
the maximum,
Bring gloom down down to
the minimum,
Then, otherwise, otherwise,
pandemonium's
Liable to walk upon the scene.
To illustrate
Well, illustrate!
My last remark:
You've got the floor;
Jonah, Jonah in the whale,
Noah in the arc,
What did they say
What did they say
Say when everything looked so
dark?
Man, they said we'd better
Accentuate the positive,
Eliminate the negative,
Latch on to the affirmative,
Don't mess with Mr. Inbetween.
No, don't mess with Mr. Inbetween!
(Italics indicate chorus backup.)
Gather 'round me, everybody,
Gather round me,
While I preach some,
Feel a sermon
Comin' on me;
The topic will be sin,
And that's what I'm ag'in';
If you wanna hear my story,
Then settle back and just sit tight,
While I start reviewin'
The attitude of doin' right.
You've got to accentuate the positive,
Eliminate the negative,
And latch on to the affirmative,
Don't mess with Mr. Inbetween.
You got to spread joy up to the
maximum,
Bring gloom down to the minimum,
Have faith, or pandemonium
Liable to walk upon the scene.
To illustrate
My last remark:
Jonah in the whale,
Noah in the arc,
What did they do
Just when everything looked so
dark?
Man, they said we better
Accentuate the positive,
Eliminate the negative,
And latch on to the affirmative,
Don't mess with Mr. Inbetween.
No, don't mess with Mr. Inbetween.
You've got to spread joy up to
the maximum,
Bring gloom down to the minimum,
Have faith, or pandemonium
Liable to walk upon the scene.
You got to accentuate the positive,
Eliminate the negative,
And latch on to the affirmative,
Don't mess with Mr. Inbetween.
No, don't mess with Mr. Inbetween!
Visit the rest of our pages!