The alphabet song is a popular tool used to help teach children the English alphabet, commonly known by children as "the A-B-C's." It is used in kindergartens, pre-schools and homes around the world. It is sung to the widely-known French folk tune "Ah! Vous Dirais-je, Maman", perhaps best-known as the melody of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Baa Baa Black Sheep", and also well-known as a set of variations for piano by Mozart (k.265). The modern English alphabet consists of the 26 letters[1] of the Latin alphabet: // The English language has been written using the Latin alphabet from about the 7th century. ... A kindergarten classroom in Afghanistan. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Day care. ... Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star is one of the most popular English nursery rhymes. ... William Wallace Denslows illustrations for Baa, Baa, Black Sheep, from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose The black sheep, according to Denslow Baa Baa Black Sheep is a nursery rhyme, set to a variant of the tune for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the Alphabet song. ... Mozart redirects here. ...

Original version

The song was first copyrighted by Charles Bradlee, music publisher, in Boston, USA in 1835, with the title, "The A.B.C., a German air with variations for the flute with an easy accompaniment for the piano forte". The musical arrangement was attributed to Louis Le Maire (sometimes Lemaire), an 18th century composer. This was "Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1835, by C. Bradlee, in the clerk's office of the District Court of Massachusetts", according to the Newberry Library ^[1], which also says, "The theme is that used by Mozart for his piano variations, Ah, vous dirai-je, maman."^[2] This tune is more commonly recognizable as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star is one of the most popular English nursery rhymes. ...

Lyrics: (each line represents a measure, or four beats)

a-b-c-d-e-f-g, (the comma denotes a short pause)

h-i-j-k-lmnop, (l-m-n-o spoken twice as quickly as rest of rhyme)

q-r-s, t-u-v, (pause between s and t)

w--x--y-and-z, (w and x last for two beats)

Now I know my A, B, C's,

next time won't you sing with me ?

Zed for Zee

In the United States, Z is pronounced zee; in most other English-speaking countries it is pronounced zed, which spoils the final rhyme. (This is also the case when it is sung in French, where "y and z" becomes "i-grec, zed".) Generally the absent zee-rhyme is not missed, although some children use a zee pronunciation in the rhyme which they would not use elsewhere. Variants of the song exist to accommodate the zed pronunciation. One variation shortens the second line and lengthens the last, to form a near-rhyme between N and zed: Look up Z, z in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A rhyme is a repetition of identical or similar terminal sounds in two or more different words and is most often used in poetry. ... Look up N, n in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

a-b-c-d-e-f-g

h-i-j-k-l-m-n

o-p-q, r-s-t

u-v-w, x-y-z

Now I know my "ABC's",

Next time won't you sing with me

Other variants make significantly more changes in order to rhyme with zed, and even alter the rest of the song to fit a new rhythm. For example^[3]:

a-b-c-d-e-f-g

h-i-j-k-lmnop

q-r-s-t

u-v-w-x-y-z

x-y-z.

Greek Alphabet

The tune to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" also works for the Greek alphabet (although much less used):

Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta,

Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta,

Iota, Kappa, Lambda, Mu,

Nu, Xi, Omicron, Pi,

Rho, Sigma, Tau, Upsilon,

Phi, Chi, Psi kai Omega.

Note: kai (και) is the Greek word for "and".

Trivia

• The alphabet song's popularity inspired comedian Steven Wright to quip, "Why is the alphabet in that order? Is it because of that song?"

• Because the words "l-m-n-o-p" are sung faster than any other letters in the song, young children hearing the song often decode "l-m-n-o-p" as only one or two words. Hearing the words wrong results in misconceptions about the song and, more importantly, the alphabet. The misconceptions are formed independently, but are often found to be similar. Of those who hear "elemenopee", some decide that "elemenopee" is a special letter of the alphabet, and some think "elemenopee" is an unknown word that completes the phrase. Of those who hear "elemeno", some take "elemeno" to be the name of a single letter, and some take "elemeno" to be an unknown word or an adjective modifying "P". [2]

• Elemeno P, a New Zealand rock band, has a name derived from the run-together "l-m-n-o-p" phrase of the song.

• Ella Minnow Pea is the title character of a novel by American novelist Mark Dunn. Her name was also inspired by the misinterpreted "l-m-n-o-p" phrase (those letters play a prominent role late in the book).

• One children's joke starts off with the joke teller singing the whole song except the "P". The listener then asks "Where's the P?" To this the joke teller responds, "Running down your knee" (interpreting the "P" as "pee").

• The Alphabet song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Baa Baa Black Sheep all use nearly identical variations of the same melody.

A comedian, or comic, is an entertainer who amuses an audience by making them laugh. ... f u ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ... Elemeno P are a New Zealand based band. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Ella Minnow Pea is a progressively lipogrammatic epistolary fable written by Mark Dunn. ... Mark Dunn is an American author and playwright. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star is one of the most popular English nursery rhymes. ... William Wallace Denslows illustrations for Baa, Baa, Black Sheep, from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose The black sheep, according to Denslow Baa Baa Black Sheep is a nursery rhyme, set to a variant of the tune for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the Alphabet song. ...

Other alphabet songs

There is a version of the alphabet song using a different melody taught by some pre-schools that use the phonics method. For the study of sounds and speech sounds, see Acoustics and Phonetics. ...

What does the A say? Ay Aa Ah (the vowels are sounded completely)

What does the B say? B* B* B* (only the leading sound of consonants are sung in the response part)

What does the C say? K* K* K*

What does the D say? D* D* D*

What does the E say? Ee and Eh

. . .

(continue for each letter with several slightly different melodies)

. . .

What does the X say? Ks Ks Ks

What does the Y say? Y* Y* Y*

What does the Z say? Zzz Zzz Zzz

What do you call these phones and sounds?

English alphabet letters.

Yeah!

This song teaches children that each letter has a name and sounds. Just like a dog says "woof" and a cat says "meow", the "I" says "eye" and "ee". Trinomial name Canis lupus familiaris The dog Canis lupus is a type of canine, a mammal in the order Carnivora. ... Trinomial name Felis catus Linnaeus, 1758 The cat (or domestic cat, house cat) is a small carnivorous mammal. ...

Another variant popular^{[attribution needed]} at many children's summer camps goes:

A: you're an alphabet

B: you're a belly button

C: you're a cantaloupe with arms

D: you're delirious

E: you're an elephant

F: you're the fairy of my arms

G: you're a goony goon

H: you're a hairy loon

I: you're an icky dicky doo

J: you've got joppy knees

k: klaustrophobia (sp)

l: you've got leprosy too!

M, N: you're a maniac

O: you're an octopus-pus-pus-pus

P:, Q: particularly queer

R, S, T,: responsible for stupid things

U: pick your nose in bed

V: you're a vomit head

W, X, Y, Z

A song from the 1940s, by Buddy Kaye, Fred Wise and Sidney Lippman, called "The Alphabet Love Song". It has also been performed on Sesame Street, as well as by Patrick Stewart on Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 DVD, as an easter egg^[4], : Sesame Street is an American educational childrens television series for preschoolers and is a pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard, combining both education and entertainment. ... Patrick Stewart, OBE, (born July 13, 1940) is an English film, television, and stage actor and Vice-Chancellor of Huddersfield University. ... The title as it appeared in most episodes opening credits. ... The first easter egg For the decorated eggs given out to celebrate the Easter holiday, see Easter egg. ...

A, you're adorable

B, you're so beautiful

C, you're a cutie full of charm

D, you're a darling

And E, you're exiting

And F, you're a feather in my arms

G, you're so good to me

H, you're so heavenly

I, you're the one I idolize

J, we're like Jack and Jill

K, you're so kissable

L, you're got love light in your eyes

M, N, O, P

I could go on all day

Q, R, S, T

In alphabetically speaking: "You're okay"

U, make my love complete

V, you're so very sweet

W, X, Y, Z

It's fun to follow through the alphabet with you, to tell you what you think of me

References

RealPlayer is a media player, created by RealNetworks, that plays a number of multimedia formats including MP3, MPEG-4, QuickTime, and Windows Media formats as well as multiple versions of proprietary RealAudio and RealVideo codecs. ...

See also

• ABC-DEF-GHI, a song sung by Big Bird of Sesame Street
• The Elements, a mnemonic song of the periodic table by Tom Lehrer
• The song "Do-Re-Mi" from The Sound of Music, which is used to learn the order of the notes in the Solfege scale, just like the alphabet song is used to learn the order of the letters in the alphabetical order.rhs