ABC-DEF-GHI

ABC-DEF-GHI is a song sung by Big Bird of "Sesame Street". It is also erroneously known as Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.

The song's lyrics were written by Jon Stone and Joe Raposo, with music by Raposo. It first appeared on the "Sesame Street" television series in 1969.

"ABC-DEF-GHI" has appeared on at least 14 different "Sesame Street"-related albums since its debut, counting renditions by Big Bird and Elmo and appearances in medleys.

Appearance

After finding the English alphabet written in chalk on the sidewalk, in one episode, Big Bird mistakes it for a very long word ("abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"). With marching band-like accompaniment, he breaks into song, pronouncing the "word", as IPA|/æbkədəfgidʒəkəlmənapkwərstuvwɪksɪz/ His brilliance as a bird, he thinks, will become known to all the world if he can ascertain the word's meaning.

A verse lists Big Bird's assumptions of what the word might mean:

:It might be a kind of an elephant:Or a funny kind of kazoo:Or a strange, exotic turtle:That you'd never see in a zoo:It might maybe a kind of a doggie:Or particular shade of blue:Or maybe a pretty flower:Naah, not with a name like that, uh-uh!

The bridge illustrates the daunting task of trying to spell, let alone pronounce the word::It starts out like an A word, as anyone can see:But somewhere in the middle, it gets awful "queer" to me.

Apparently in some versions, Big Bird's friends appear and Big Bird tries to stand on the chalked "word", as he thinks to himself, nonverbally, "Oh no! Now all my friends will find out about the abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz (as he thinks the word to himself, he pronounces it "(IPA|/æbkədəfgidʒəkəlmənapkwərstuvwɪksɪz/)") and my fame will not be published throughout the streets of Sesame!". However, his friends manage to worm him into getting off the chalked word and they, together, explore the skullduggery of finding out its meaning. After much guessing, they finally learn that it is the alphabet.

In the "Sesame Street" TV series, Big Bird describes to Susan that he is "using signs to practice learning words" by "going up and down Sesame Street reading all the signs". After reading the signs "Sesame Street", "Stop", "Sale Yarn" and then says that there is a word he saw today, which he can hardly say and doesn't know what it means. He tells her it's "(IPA|/æb kədəf ghi dʒəkəl mənap kwərstu vwɪksɪz/)"), and she can't figure out what he's talking about until he shows her the alphabet printed in white letters on a green chalkboard. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr5er4ueWBQ ABC-DEF-GHI video] ]

See also

* The Alphabet song

References

External links

* [http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/ABC-DEF-GHI ABC-DEF-GHI] at Muppet Wiki