Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive " is a popular song which was published in 1944 . The music was written by Harold Arlen and the lyrics by Johnny Mercer . The song was nominated for the " Academy Award for Best Original Song " at the 18th Academy Awards in 1945 after being used in the film '' Here Come the Waves '' . 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 ! ' " 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 13 weeks on the chart , peaking at number 2 . The song was number five on Billboard 's Annual High School Survey in 1945
18th Academy Awards
18th Academy Awards
Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive