It’s Johnny Mercer’s birthday
from Natchez to Mobile
in the cool cool cool of the evening
very cool with Barbara Lea
singing Marian McPartland playing
the greatest revenge songs of all time
hooray and hallelujah
you had it comin’ to ya
while I clap from a front row seat
with a bottle of Rodenbach
Alexander red ale from Belgium
with cherries and “Tangerine” in
the background in Double Indemnity
when Stanwyck and MacMurray are finished
he had a feel for the lingo, “Jeepers Creepers”
as Bing Crosby sang it on my eighth birthday
in 1956 I just played it three straight times
and an all-American sense of humor what does
Jonah say in the belly of the whale he says man
we better accentuate the positive that’s it
happy birthday and thanks for the cheer
I hope you didn’t mind my bending your ear
-- David Lehman (2000; from The Evening Sun, 2003)
Harold Arlen wrote the music, and Johnny Mercer the words, for that great 1945 hit, "Accentuate the Positive."
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