Tag: movies

I recently reread Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, which must be where bloweth came from in my fingertips as I typed.

What a sad, “comedic” tale of distrust this play is. We distrust so readily. Because we doubt others with reason from their behaviors? Or because we would do or have done the behavior that we now distrust in other(s)? Does trust have to be earned, or should it be given, then perhaps encouraging good from the other(s)? What musical had “accentuate the positive” as part of a song lyric?….

Well, I looked it up, and it’s a song written in 1944, during World War II, by Johnny Mercer (lyrics) and Harold Arlen (music) and sung in 1945 by first Johnny Mercer himself with the Pied Pipers, and has also been sung, it appears, by Bing Crosby, Aretha Franklin, The Andrews Sisters, and on and on, including even Van Morrison!

Okay, if you’re still reading, now you’ll be gifted with the lyrics (did you expect otherwise?)

You’ve got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
E-lim-i-nate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don’t mess with Mr. In-Between

You’ve got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith, or pandemonium
Liable to walk upon the scene

To illustrate
His last remark
Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark
What did they do
Just when everything looked so dark?

Man, they said we better
Ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
E-lim-i-nate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don’t mess with Mr. In-Between
No, do not mess with Mr. In-Between!
Do you hear me, hmm?

Speaking of, “hmm”? I just read an article about Johnny Mercer (1909-1976 ), who was a rather amazing man. You can read about him in the link here:

https://www.songhall.org/profile/Johnny_Mercer

Among the myriad things he did, Johnny Mercer wrote hit songs in four different decades, from the 1930s through the 1960s. And a fascinating array of them, I must say. They include “P.S. I Love You” (1934, Gordon Jenkins) (sung, of interest to me, by the Beatles in oh, I’d say, 1963), “Goody Goody” (1936, Matt Melneck), “I’m An Old Cowhand” (1936, words and music), “Bob White (Whatcha Gonna Swing Tonight?)” (1937, Bernie Hanighen), “Too Marvelous For Words” (1937, Richard Whiting), “Jeepers Creepers” (1938, Harry Warren), “Hooray For Hollywood” (1938, Richard Whiting), “Day In–Day Out” (1939, Rube Bloom), “I Thought About You” (1939, Jimmy Van Heusen), “Fools Rush In” (1940, Rube Bloom), “Blues In The Night” (1941, Harold Arlen), “Skylark” (1941, Hoagy Carmichael), “I Remember You” (1942, Victor Schertzinger), “I’m Old Fashioned” (1942, Jerome Kern), “That Old Black Magic”(1942, Harold Arlen), “Hit The Road To Dreamland” (1942, Harold Arlen), “My Shining Hour” (1943, Harold Arlen), “One For My Baby” (1943, Harold Arlen), “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive” (1944, Harold Arlen), “Let’s Take The Long Way Home”(1944, Harold Arlen), “G.I. Jive” (1944, words and music), “Laura” (1945, David Raskin), “Out Of This World” (1945, Harold Arlen), “Early Autumn” (1949, Woody Herman and Ralph Burns), “Autumn Leaves” (1950, English version of a French song, music by Joseph Kozma), “Here’s To My Lady” (1951, Rube Bloom), “Something’s Gotta Give” (1955, words and music), “Satin Doll” (1958, Duke Ellington), “Charade” (1963, Henry Mancini), “Summer Wind” (1965, Henry Mayer), and “How Do You Say Aug Wiedersehn?” (1967, Tony Scibetta).

So, though a chill wind bloweth, I can take the long way home, meander even in this high noon moment’s 29 degrees farenheit/feels, with chill wind, like 20 degrees farenheit, and sing offkey, because!!! the wind takes my singing voice that I don’t like to hear because it never replicates the perfect pitch I hear in my head, the wind takes it and lets it soar high above earshot. The day may be chill, the wind blowing chiller, but here I am–well, and inside, warm. For this I am grateful.

Speaking of, who knows, well, just speaking of, look who my sister and I saw on Friday, November 29th in the vicinity of Cambridge, MA common.

Poor Ebenezer Scrooge: “No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him…”

May we bring warmth to the chill.