THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

934-Bing Crosby and The Andrew Sisters-Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive.

1944-It has never charted in the UK. There was no UK chart until 1952.

Best Bit-At 1.17. This is quite possibly the very first ever ‘Happy Clappy’ song.

‘Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive’ was co-written by Harold Arden, (music) and Johnny Mercer, (lyrics) and first appeared in the 1944 American romantic comedy, ‘Here Comes the Waves,’ where it was performed by Bowen Charlton ‘Sonny’ Tufts, (1911-1970) as part of a ‘blackface’ routine, (see also best songs 310) something that was common in many musicals of the era, but which would be not allowed now. Arden and Mercer had been commissioned to write the music for the film, for which they wrote nine songs, of which eight were used, with ‘Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive’ proving by far to be the most popular. The first recording of the song was by Johnny Mercer, on vocals, with ‘The Pied Pipers’ and the Paul Weston (1912-1996) (see also best songs 584) Orchestra.’ ‘The Pied Pipers’ are a very successful vocal group who perform with ‘Jazz Orchestra’s, they formed in 1938, and still tour at the time of writing. This recording was highly successful, and peaked at Number 2 on the ‘Billboard Magazine’ in America in April 1945. The version of ‘Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive’ that I have chosen by Bing Crosby (1903-1977) (see also best songs 457 and 259) and The Andrew Sisters (see also best songs 252) was equally successful, when also peaking at Number 2 on Billboard in 1945. The song as you can well imagine has dozens of other recordings through the generations, by some of the the worlds top artists.

Harold Arlen was born Hyman Arluck on February 15th, 1905, in Buffalo, New York, United States, he died of cancer on April 23rd, 1986, at the age of 81, Arlen composed over 500 songs, many of which appear in the ‘Great American Songbook,’ (see also best songs 281) and as well as writing with Johnny Mercer, he also collaborated with others including ‘E. Y. Harburg, (1896-1981) and Ted Koehler (1894-1973) on many of the 20th Century’s best loved songs. Shortly before his death, Arlen adopted the 22 year old adult son of his brother Julius “Jerry” Arluck, so that his estate would have an heir in order to extend his copyright. Samuel Arlen runs the company that owns the rights to the Arlen catalogue.

‘Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive’ was written for the Navy themed musical ‘Here Comes the Waves,’ and the songs lyricist Johnny Mercer (1909-1976) (see also best songs 281 and 45) has explained how an old idea came to mind.’When I was working with Benny Goodman (1909-1986) back in ’39, I had a publicity guy who told me he had been to hear Father Divine, (1876-1965) and that was the subject of his sermon, ‘Accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative.’ Well, that amused me so, and it sounds so Southern and so funny that I wrote it down on a piece of paper, and this was, what, five years later? And Harold Arlen (1905-1986) (see also best songs 634-281 and 68) and I were riding home from the studio after a conference about getting a song for the sailors, and Harold was singing me this little tune he had sung me before. Now, that’s a strange thing about your subconscious, because here’s a song that’s kind of lying dormant in my subconscious for five years, and the minute he sang that tune, it jumped into my mind as if it dialed a phone number. Because it doesn’t really fit. The accent is all different. I just think there’s some kind of fate connected with it.’

Father Divine whom Johnny Mercer referred to, was an American spiritual leader who founded the ‘International Peace Mission movement,’ in the 1920’s, and due to his ideology many consider him to have been a cult leader. Father Divine who claimed to be ‘God’ had many followers, and preached openly on many subjects, including race, chastity, politics, and positive thinking. Tying in with the sermons of Father Divine,’Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive’ references two biblical stories, ‘Jonah and the Whale,’ and ‘Noah and the Ark.’ and asks the question ‘What did they do just when everything looked so dark?’ To which the song tells us to be positive, ‘Eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative, and don’t mess with Mister In-Between.’

‘Oh, listen to me children and-a you will hear about the eliminatin’ of the negative, and the accent on the positive. And gather ’round me children if you’re willin’ and sit tight, while I start reviewin’ the attitude of doin’ right.’