[Intro: Johnny Mercer]
Gather 'round me, everybody
Gather 'round me while I preach some
Feel a sermon coming on here
The topic will be sin
And that's what I'm agin'

If you wanna hear my story
Then settle back and just sit tight
While I start reviewing
The attitude of doing right

[Chorus: Johnny Mercer]
You gotta ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
E-lim-i-nate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mr. In-Between

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

[Verse: Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers]
To illustrate my last remark
Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark
What did they do, just when everything looked so dark?
Man, they said, we better
[Chorus: Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers]
Ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
E-lim-i-nate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mr. In-Between
No, don't mess with Mr. In-Between

You gotta spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
And have faith, or pandemonium
Liable to walk upon the scene

[Outro: Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers]
You got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
E-lim-i-nate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mr. In-Between
No, don't mess with Mr. In-Between