Richard Rodgers
Cockeyed Optimist (Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific)
When the sky is a bright, canary yellow
I forget ev'ry cloud I've ever seen
So they call me a cockeyed optimist
Immature and incurably green
I can hear people rant and rave and bellow
That we're done and might as well be dead
But I'm only a cockeyed optimist
And I can't get it into my head
I hear the human race
Is falling on its face
And hasn't very far to go
[Evil Laughter]
But ev'ry whip-or-will
Is handing me a bill
And telling me it just ain't so
I could say life is just a bowl of jello
And appear more intelligent and smart
But I'm stuck like a dope with a thing called hope
And I can't get it out of my heart
Not this heart!