You’ve got to
Ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive,
E-lim-my-nate the negative,
Latch on to the affirmative,
Don’t mess with Mister In-between.

These lines come from the popular American song “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive,” with lyrics by Johnny Mercer and music by Harold Arlen. Mercer wrote it during World War II, when upbeat, morale-boosting popular music was in high demand. The song was introduced in the 1944 film musical Here Come the Waves (Paramount), where it was performed by Bing Crosby. It quickly became a standard, recorded by numerous artists, and its playful, hyphenated diction (“Ac-cent-tchu-ate,” “E-lim-my-nate”) helped make its self-help message memorable and easily quoted.

The lyric is a compact piece of pop-philosophy: cultivate optimism (“accentuate the positive”), refuse corrosive habits of thought (“eliminate the negative”), and commit to constructive belief and action (“latch on to the affirmative”). “Mister In-between” personifies indecision, cynicism, or half-heartedness—the emotional middle ground that can sap resolve. Mercer’s comic spelling and rhythmic bounce turn advice into a chant, suggesting that attitude is partly a practiced performance. The enduring appeal lies in how it frames optimism not as naïveté but as a deliberate discipline: choosing what to emphasize and what to discard.

“You’ve got to accentuate the positive / Eliminate the negative / Latch on to the affirmative / Don’t mess with Mister In-Between.”