[Chorus]
You got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
And e-lim-i-nate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
But don't mess with Mr. In-between, ah

[Verse 2]
You got to spread joy up to the maximum
And bring gloom down to the minimum
And have faith, or pandemonium
Liable to walk upon the scene
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

[Chorus]
We've got to accentuate the positive
And eliminate the negative
And hang on to the affirmative
But don't mess with Mr. In-between

[Trumpet Solo]

[Pre-Chorus]
To illustrate my last remark
Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark
What did they do, just when everything, everything looked so dark?
Man, they said
[Chorus]
We've got to accentuate the positive
And eliminate the negative
And hang on to the affirmative
But don't mess, don't mess with Mr. In-between

[Outro]
No, no, no, don't mess
Oh, baby, I said don't mess
You better not
Don't mess with Mr. In-between, yeah