It is sung in the style of a sermon, and explains that accentuating the positive is key to happiness. In describing his inspiration for the lyric, Mercer told the Pop Chronicles radio documentary "[my] publicity agent ... went to hear Father Divine and he had a sermon and his subject was 'you got to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative.' And I said 'Wow, that's a colorful phrase!'"[1][2]
Chart performance
Mercer recorded the song, with The Pied Pipers and Paul Weston's orchestra, on October 4, 1944, and it was released by Capitol Records as catalog number 180. The record first reached the Billboard magazine charts on January 4, 1945, and lasted 13weeks on the chart, peaking at number2.[3] On the Harlem Hit Parade chart, it went to number four.[4] The song was number five on Billboard's Annual High School Survey in 1945.[5]
On March 25, 2015, it was announced that Mercer's version would be inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry for the song's "cultural, artistic and/or historical significance to American society and the nation’s audio legacy".[6]
Within a matter of weeks, several other recordings of the song were released by other well-known artists:
Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters made a recording on December 8, 1944, with Vic Schoen and his Orchestra, which was released by Decca Records as catalog number 23379. The record first reached the Billboard magazine charts on January 25, 1945, and lasted nine weeks on the chart, peaking at number2.[3]
Kay Kyser made a recording on December 21, 1944, with Dolly Mitchell and a vocal trio. This was released by Columbia as catalog number 36771.
A recording by Artie Shaw was released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 20-1612. The record first reached the Billboard magazine charts on January 25, 1945, and lasted five weeks on the chart, peaking at number5.[3]
Connie Francis added the song in 1960 to her "Swinging Medley" (sometimes also referred to as "Gospel Medley"), where she combined it with three other songs: "Yes, indeed", "Amen", and "Lonesome Road". Three versions of this medley were recorded on different occasions in 1960. The first recording was broadcast in a mock-live radio show of National Guard Radio early that year. The two other recordings were intended for release on Francis's label MGM Records but remained unreleased until 1996 on Bear Family Records.
The song has twice been recorded by Perry Como: once on February 19, 1958, and later in July, 1980. Both were primarily made for albums. Neither version was released as a single in the United States, though the 1958version was released in Germany by RCA as a single (catalog number 47-9243-A).
Billy Gorilly released a recording of the song as a single in January 2012. This version was used as the soundtrack for the animated children's cartoon music video released in October 2012.[8]
A version by Peggy Lee recorded in the early 1950s on a radio program she hosted was released on the 2021 album Something Wonderful: Peggy Lee Sings the Great American Songbook.[10]
The song featured in the BBC TV Series Casualty on the 9th October 2010, involving Lenny Lyons and a patient with a brain tumour, who could hear the song in her head when she was about to have a seizure.
The American cable television network The Family Channel (now Freeform) used a reworked version of this song as part of its on-air imaging in the early 1990s, to emphasize the station's "positive," family-friendly image.
It was also used in commercials for Australian health insurance provider HBF in the early 2000s, and UK gas and electricity provider npower in 2008.[14][15][16][17]
In April 2011, the first episode of the second season of Treme was called Accentuate the Positive, with several performances of this song.[18]
John Herndon Mercer was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallichs.
"Love and Marriage" is a 1955 song with lyrics by Sammy Cahn and music by Jimmy Van Heusen. It is published by Barton Music Corporation (ASCAP).
"Something's Gotta Give" is a popular song with words and music by Johnny Mercer in 1954. It was published in 1955. It was written for and first performed by Fred Astaire in the 1955 musical film Daddy Long Legs, and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1955 as Best Original Song, losing to "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" from the film of the same name.
"On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" is a popular song written by Harry Warren with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The song was published in 1944, spanned the hit chart in mid-1945, and won the 1946 Academy Award for Best Original Song, the first win for Mercer.
"Blues in the Night" is a popular blues song which has become a pop standard and is generally considered to be part of the Great American Songbook. The music was written by Harold Arlen, the lyrics by Johnny Mercer, for a 1941 film begun with the working title Hot Nocturne, but finally released as Blues in the Night. The song is sung in the film by William Gillespie.
"Lullaby of Broadway" is a popular song with music written by Harry Warren and lyrics by Al Dubin, published in 1935. The lyrics salute the nightlife of Broadway and its denizens, who "don't sleep tight until the dawn."
"Back in Your Own Back Yard" is a popular song. Officially the credits show it as written by Al Jolson, Billy Rose, and Dave Dreyer; in fact, Billy Rose was exclusively a lyricist, Dreyer a composer, and Al Jolson a performer who was often given credits so he could earn some more money, so the actual apportionment of the credits would be likely to be music by Dreyer, lyrics by Rose, and possibly some small contribution by Jolson.
"My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time" is a 1945 popular song.
Accentuate the Positive may refer to:
"I Get Ideas" is a popular song which has been recorded by various musicians and used in a number of films and television episodes.
"By the Light of the Silvery Moon" or "By the Light of the Silv'ry Moon" is a popular love song. The music was written by Gus Edwards, and the lyrics by Edward Madden. The song was published in 1909 and first performed on stage by Lillian Lorraine in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1909. It was one of a series of moon-related Tin Pan Alley songs of the era. The song was also used in the short-lived Broadway show Miss Innocence when it was sung by Frances Farr.
"Don't Fence Me In" is a popular American song written in 1934, with music by Cole Porter and lyrics by Robert Fletcher and Cole Porter. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.
"I'm Beginning to See the Light" is a popular song and jazz standard, with music written by Duke Ellington, Johnny Hodges, and Harry James and lyrics by Don George and published in 1944.
"It's Been a Long, Long Time" is a big band-era song that was a hit at the end of World War II, with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Sammy Cahn.
"Amor", also known as "Amor Amor" and "Amor Amor Amor" is a popular song published in 1943.
This is a filmography for the American singer and actor Bing Crosby.
"Pistol Packin' Mama" was a "Hillbilly"-Honky Tonk record released at the height of World War II that became a nationwide sensation, and the first "Country" song to top the Billboard popular music chart. It was written by Al Dexter of Troup, Texas, who recorded it in Los Angeles, California on March 20, 1942, with top session musicians Dick Roberts, Johnny Bond and Dick Reinhart, who all normally worked for Gene Autry). It was used in the 1943 film Pistol Packin' Mama, starring Ruth Terry and Robert Livingston.
Here Come the Waves is a 1944 American romantic comedy musical film directed by Mark Sandrich. It stars Bing Crosby and Betty Hutton.
Bing Crosby Sings with Judy Garland, Mary Martin, Johnny Mercer is a Decca Records compilation album of phonograph records by Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Mary Martin and Johnny Mercer.
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