History Main / AlphabetSong

* The TropeCodifier is probably a song called "The A.B.C.", which was first copyrighted in 1895 by music publisher Charles Bradlee:

* A playground song is titled "A, My Name Is Alice". An improvised ball-bouncing or jump-rope jingle, the first verse might go, "A, my name is Alice, and my husband's name is Albert. We come from Alabama, and we sell apples." Repeat with every letter of the alphabet for the husband's and wife's names, their place of origin, and their sales wares. Can get tricky for Q and X, if you make it that far. [[https://www.discogs.com/release/1651190-Rocking-Horse-Orchestra-Chorus-Sesame-Street-Rubber-Duckie. A second, completely different version]] of "A My Name Is Alice" was recorded on an early, unofficial ''Sesame Street'' record (info is hard to find, but the writing credit might belong to Jeffrey Moss). The first verse goes:

** in the DirectToVideo release, "Do the Alphabet", Big Bird sings "Do the Alphabet" to help Baby Bear say the alphabet by himself so Goldilocks doesn't have to do it for him. Here is a sample of its lyrics:
--->'''Big Bird:''' ''A-B-C,''
--->'''Baby Bear and Children:''' ''A-B-C,''
--->'''Big Bird:''' ''D-E-F-G,''
--->'''Baby Bear and Children:''' ''D-E-F-G,''
--->'''Big Bird:''' ''A-B-C,''
--->'''Baby Bear and Children:''' ''A-B-C,''
--->'''Big Bird:''' ''D-E-F-G,''
--->'''Baby Bear and Children''' ''D-E-F-G,''
--->'''Big Bird:''' ''You can say the alphabet back to me.''

* A playground song is titled "A, My Name Is Alice". An improvised ball-bouncing or jump-rope jingle, the first verse might go, "A, my name is Alice, and my husband's name is Albert. We come from Alabama, and we sell apples." Repeat with every letter of the alphabet for the husband's and wife's names, their place of origin, and their sales wares. Can get tricky for Q and X, if you make it that far. A second, completely different version of "A My Name Is Alice" was recorded on an early, unofficial ''Sesame Street'' record (info is hard to find, but the writing credit might belong to Jeffrey Moss) https://www.discogs.com/release/1651190-Rocking-Horse-Orchestra-Chorus-Sesame-Street-Rubber-Duckie. The first verse goes:

* '''A' You're Adorable'' was popularized by Perry Como back in 1949. A song to one's sweetie using every letter of the alphabet, e.g., "A you're adorable, B you're so beautiful, C you're a cutie full of charm." Not all letters have a corresponding term of endearment, though, since in a few places a sequence of letters is recited, such as "Q, R, S, T, alphabetically speaking you're OK". (A playground parody seems to have caught on as well. https://www.girlscoutshh.org/content/dam/girlscouts-girlscoutshh/documents/Song%20Book.pdf )

* ''Music/TheWiggles'' have their own version of the song:
-->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 Zed or Zee
-->Now I know my ABC's
-->Next time won't you come and sing with me
-->I said the A, the A and the B, the ABC's, thank you, thank you very much, you're a beautiful alphabet
* The pop singer GAYLE was once dared to write a song that incorporated the letters of the [=ABCs=]. The result was her hit "ABCDEFU," with a chorus that starts out sounding like an alphabet song [[SubvertedTrope before going]] in [[ClusterFBomb a very different direction]] with the letter F.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney D is for damnation, E is for eternal damnation.]]]]

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d4578a11_7c4f_4732_9663_69da60c4242e.jpeg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The B-side is a VillainSong, for the [[StealthPun record]].]]

So you need to teach the alphabet and want to make it easy? Why not go for the Alphabet Song! The Alphabet Song is a song designed to teach others about the alphabet, typically by reciting the names of all of the letters of the alphabet. It is popular in two different flavors (although other variants exist):

* The pop singer GAYLE was once dared to write a song that incorporated the letters of the [=ABCs=]. The result was her hit "ABCDEFU," with a chorus that starts out sounding like an alphabet song before going in [[ClusterFBomb a very different direction]] from the letter F.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In "Quagmire's Mom", a flashback of Quagmire as a kid shows him singing the classic alphabet tune - using the names of the men his [[ReallyGetsAround mother]] slept with for each letter.

* In the ''Franchise/SesameStreet'' film ''Film/TheAdventuresOfElmoInGrouchland'', when the rest of the ''Sesame Street'' cast are [[GoodIsBadAndBadIsGood thrown in jail for asking for help in Grouchland]], Big Bird begins singing the second version to his fellow Grouch prisoners, much to their displeasure.

* "Game Over Tinies" by ''Music/{{Brentalfloss}}'' is a song that associates the letters with the fates of characters in video games.

* ''Spell Binders'', an unsold game show pilot from 1978, used "The A.B.C" (see the Music folder) as the basis for its [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5BTasa9Onc theme tune]].

* The TropeCodifier is probably a song called "The A.B.C", which was first copyrighted in 1895 by music publisher Charles Bradlee:

-->Q, R, S, T,U, V

-->Now I know my [=ABC=]s

[[folder:Web Video]]

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

* The Music/BarenakedLadies's "Crazy ABC's" plays with the idea. Ed uses words start with the correct letter, but the starting letters are silent or don't make their usual sounds. So, for example, the beginning is "A is for aisle, B is for bdellium, C is for czar..." The two exceptions are "L is for llama" because Ed thinks its strange there are two L's, and "R is for argyle" because Ed couldn't find a good R word.

* The kid's book ''Literature/ChickaChickaBoomBoom'' is a poem book about a bunch of sentient letters racing each-other up a tree. Each letter is introduced in order and in a lyrical manner as they scale the tree, fall out, and suffer AmusingInjuries.

* ''K is for Knifeball'' is a [[SubvertedKidsShow parody of children's alphabet books]], where every page is a different bad idea. The bad ideas vary from the mundane (wearing the same underwear for several days running) to the incredibly dangerous (playing with a ball with a knife taped to it).
* The children's book ''P is for Poop'' is a poem about the antics of a married couple, their two kids, their cat, and their dog, and it has lines like "L is for laughing [[PottyFailure 'til your pants are wet]]" and "U is for underwear, Dad's only PJ's."

->De A van aap en B van bal
->C van club en D van dal
->E van eend en F van Fred
->Dat zijn de eerste letters van 't alfabet

->ABCDEFG
->Zing dit liedje met mij mee
->De letters gaan van A tot Z
->De 26 letters van het alfabet

-->ABC-DEF-GHI-JKL-MNOP-QRSTUV-WXYZ
-->It's the most remarkable word I've ever seen
-->ABC-DEF-GHI-JKL-MNOP-QRSTUV-WXYZ
-->I wish I knew exactly what I mean
-->It starts out like an "A" word as anyone can see
-->But somewhere in the middle it gets awful "QR" to me
-->ABC-DEF-GHI-JKL-MNOP-QRSTUV-WXYZ
-->If I ever find out just what this word can mean
-->I'll be the smartest bird the world has ever seen!

-->'''Big Bird''': ''A-B-C,''
-->'''Baby Bear and Children''': ''A-B-C,''
-->'''Big Bird''': ''D-E-F-G,''
-->'''Baby Bear and Children''': ''D-E-F-G,''
-->'''Big Bird''': ''A-B-C,''
-->'''Baby Bear and Children''': ''A-B-C,''
-->'''Big Bird''': ''D-E-F-G,''
-->'''Baby Bear and Children''': ''D-E-F-G,''
-->'''Big Bird''': ''You can say the alphabet back to me.''
** The "Alphabet Chat" theme is the alphabet sung to the tune of one of Bach's songs.

->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, and Z.
->Now I know my [=ABC=]s
->Next time, won't you sing with me?
* A playground song is titled "A My Name is Alice". An improvised ball-bouncing or jump-rope jingle, the first verse might go "A my name is Alice, and my husband's name is Albert. We come from Alabama, and we sell apples." Repeat with every letter of the alphabet for the husband's and wife's names, their place of origin, and their sales wares. Can get tricky for Q and X, if you make it that far. A second, completely different version of "A My Name is Alice" was recorded on an early, unofficial Sesame Street record (info is hard to find, but the writing credit might belong to Jeffrey Moss) https://www.discogs.com/release/1651190-Rocking-Horse-Orchestra-Chorus-Sesame-Street-Rubber-Duckie. The first verse goes
->A my name is Alice,
->I live in a palace,
->And every afternoon at three,
->a footman serves me tea
->Yeah, yeah, a footman serves me tea
->Yeah, yeah, a footman serves me tea.
->(backup vocalists) Yeah, yeah, a footman serves her tea.
* '''A' You're Adorable'' was popularized by Perry Como back in 1949. A song to one's sweetie using every letter of the alphabet, e.g., "A you're adorable, B you're so beautiful, C you're a cutie full of charm". Not all letters have a corresponding term of endearment, though, since in a few places a sequence of letters is recited, such as "Q, R, S, T, alphabetically speaking you're OK" (A playground parody seems to have caught on as well. https://www.girlscoutshh.org/content/dam/girlscouts-girlscoutshh/documents/Song%20Book.pdf )
* Possibly the earliest known phonemic alphabet song in English is "Ba-Be-Bi-Bo-Bu," which was sung at the initiation ceremonies for new apprentices in London printing houses at least as far back as 1740. The lyrics repeat the following pattern through all of the consonants, starting with the letter B:
-> B-a, Ba, B-e, Be, B-i, Bi, Ba-Be-Bi, B-o, Bo, Ba-be-bi-bo, B-u, Bu, Ba-be-bi-bo-bu.
* "Game Over Tinies" by ''Music/{{Brentalfloss}}'' is a song that associates the letters with the fates of characters in video games.
->A is for [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Aerith]], stabbed right through the tummy
->B is for [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Bowser]], whose bridgework was crumby
->C is for [[VideoGame/ChronoTrigger Crono]], or was that his double?
->D is for [[VideoGame/StreetFighterII Dhalsim]], who had yoga trouble
->E is for [[VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin Ecco]], and he was delicious
* "A Gorey Demise" by ''Music/CreatureFeature'' features a dark version of this, associating the letters with the names of people who suffered gruesome deaths.
->A is for Amber who drowned in a pool
->B is for Billy who was eaten by ghouls
->C is for Curt with disease in the brain
->D is for Daniel derailed on a train
->E is for Eric who is buried alive
* ''Music/{{Leadbelly}}''s "Rock Island Line" features a verse which begins: "A, B, C, double X, Y, Z / The cat's in the corner but he can't catch me.
* Septimus Winner published "The Spelling Bee" in 1875, a phonemic alphabet song inspired by "Ba-Be-Bi-Bo-Bu" but with the vocal pattern changed slightly to make the lyrics fit an eight bar format. Like its predecessor, the lyrics start with B and repeat the same pattern for every consonant.
-> B, A, Ba, B, E, Be, B-I-bicki-bi, B, O, Bo, Bicki-bi-bo, B, U, Bu, Bicki-bi-bo-bu.
* ''Music/{{Songdrops}}'' has the "CBA Song", which is the alphabet backwards.
* ''Music/TheWiggles'' have their own version of the song:

* Edward Lear wrote many alphabetical poems, the X usually being "King Xerxes".

--> Great A was alarmed at B?s bad behaviour,

* One of the EnemyChatter in ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' is the guard singing the alphabets, and he flubs the order only a few letters in.

-->'''Girl 1''': "A, B, and C, makes me happy."
-->'''Boy 1''': "D, E, and G. We're so gloomy."
-->'''Boy 2 and Girl 2''': "H, I, and J. Things never go our way."
-->'''Girl 1''': "K, L, and M. I agree with them."
-->'''Boy 1''': "N, O, and P. I have to pee."
-->'''Boy 2, Boy 3, and Girl 3''': "Q, R, and S. We're in distress."
-->'''Boy 1''': "T, U, and V. I still have to pee."
-->'''Boy 2, Boy 3, Girl 1, and Girl 3''': "W, X, Z, please set us free!"
-->'''Andy''' ''(spoken)'': "You forgot the letters Y and F. Why? Because you get an F!"

This [[https://youtu.be/sHlXzni8XC4 catchy commercial]] for Post Alpha-Bits cereal features Music/TheJacksonFive covering the Alphabet song while playing in a park -- one that happens to be outfitted with oversized cereal letters.

This [[https://youtu.be/sHlXzni8XC4 catchy commercial]] for Post Alpha-Bits cereal features TheJacksonFive covering the Alphabet song while playing in a park -- one that happens to be outfitted with oversized cereal letters.

* ''Film/ForbiddenZone'': One of the film?s musical numbers is "Alphabet Song," a politically incorrect parody of the Three Stooges song "Swingin' the Alphabet."
* In Film/TheThreeStooges 1938 short film ''Violent is the Word for Curley'' the Stooges become teachers at Mildew Academy and lead a class of coeds through the song "Swingin' the Alphabet," which is basically a jazzed-up version of the song "The Spelling Bee" by Septimus Winner.

** Another ''Sesame Street'' example: The "Alphabet Chat" theme is the alphabet sung to the tune of one of Bach's songs.

->So you think you're A-ble [able]
->To survive this mess by B-ing [being]
->A prince or a princess, you will soon C [see],
->There's no escaping trage-D [tragedy].
-> And E-ven [even]