Z, y, x, w, v, u, t...
S, r, q, p, o, n, m...
L, k, j,
I, h, g,
F, e, d, c, b, and a.
I think F and E are too easy to turn into "effy" when you sing it out.
It's a personal preference. Yours works too.
NOTES = 0
ABC = 1
BWABC = 2
TTLS = 3
BBBS = 4
[0] C, C, G, G, A, A, (long G)
[1] A, b, c, d, e, f, (g)...
[2] Z, y, x, w, v, u, (t)...
[3] Twin, -kle, twin, -kle, lit, -tle, (star),
[4] Baa, baa, black, sheep, have, you, (any wool)?
[0] F, F, E, E, D, D, (long C)
[1] H, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, (p)... (the elemental problem rises because they crammed an extra letter into this line and distinguishing each individual letter gets muddy because they used the two D notes for four letters - l, m, n, o. This is not optimum)
[2] S, r, q, p, o, n, (m)... (gives each letter an opportunity to be clearly enunciated)
[3] How, I, won, -der, what, you, (are)...
[4] Yes, sir, yes, sir, three, bags, (full)
[0] G, G, F, F, E, E, (long D)
[1] Q, r, s, t, u, (v)... (pause on the F at S, or use a long F between S and T sop that the third and fourth notes merge on S)
[2] L, k, j, i, h, g, (f)... (fits the flow and allows each letter to have a distinct sound)
[3] Up, a, -bove, the, world, so, (high)
[4] One, for the, mas, -ter, one, for the, (dame)
[0] G, G, F, F, E, E, (long D)
[1] W, x, y, and, (z)... (Both notes G, F are merged to handle the single letter they are sounding and the E includes "Y and" to get you to the last letter)
[2] E, d, c, b, and (a). (This handles the rhythm like we see in [1] treatment of the stretching or pause on the third letter of the series)
[3] Like, a, dia, -mond, in, the, (sky)
[4] One, for the, lit -tle, girl, who, lives, down the, (lane)
[0] C, C, G, G, A, A, (long G)
[1] Now, I've, sung, my, A, B, (C's)
[2] Now, I've, sung, them, back, -wards, (to you),
[3] Twin, -kle, twin, -kle, lit, -tle, (star)
[4] Baa, baa, black, sheep, have, you, (any wool)?
[0] F, F, E, E, D, D, (long C)
[1] Tell, me, what, you, think, of, (me).
[2] Can, you, sing, them, back, -wards, (too)?
[3] How, I, won, -der, what, you, (are)
[4] Yes, sir, yes, sir, three, bags, (full)
That's all I got. That's how I sing it. I tried to break out the notes as they flow in each song. Commas separate each note in the song and the parentheses around the last word or letter denote a long note. Where you see two words behind one comma those two words use the same note - "for the" is an example. It all fits for me though I guarantee that there is more than one way to skin this cat. This way works for me.
So like, abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyZ, abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxY, ...
You can also use this algorithm to reverse a linked list, though you will not get the job if you do. I'm wondering if the cops are as picky as Google interviewers.
Since I don't drink any alcohol and don't drive, I can't imagine I'd ever have a chance to use this in a field sobriety test, but I also suspect that a cop who pulled me over wouldn't find it particularly amusing, so I wouldn't be eager to try it anyways.
I decided that it was a useful skill. Later when our kids were born and the long early morning hours were filled with rocking chairs noises, diaper changes, feeding and burping I took the opportunity to add that version to my song list. Sometimes I ended up singing every song that I knew any words from so it helped a lot when I was tired to focus on one tune.
Single-quote/quote comma/less dot/greater p y … a o e u i d h t n s …
abcdefg, hijklmn, opq, rst, uvw xyz
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
Yes it doesn't rhyme but it scans so much better that, once you're used to it, the American NLMOP version sounds ridiculous.
Such a pattern of 16ths occurs in "have you any wool" in the English nursery rhyme "Baa Baa Black Sheep", which is sung to the same tune.
Now, I sometimes get confused about what letter comes next. If I'm at `G` am I supposed to say, GFEDCBA or am I supposed to go from my forwards anchor of ABCDEFGH ? This happens when I'm at a nice anchor in my backwards memorization that's a non-anchor in my forwards memorization.
But I mean, yeah, neat party trick that I can say ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA (and also type it really quickly).
Interestingly, my breaks are different from the parent commenter's:
ZYXWVUT
SRQP
ONMLK
JIH
GFEDCBA (this part was easy from the start because I played piano)
No alphabet song involved at all.
Reminds me of this classic, the reverse bike:
The only one that ever got any mileage out of it was my little sister. At a poker party she was going into the kitchen for some soda. Somebody asked as she entered 'Cindy, can you say the alphabet backward?' As she opened the fridge, got the 2-litre and poured, put it away and left the kitchen she sang the alphabet song backwards. Never stopped to ask why they wanted to know. Just did it and left, cool as a cucumber. My sister is so cool.
We used wooden alphabet puzzles as a guide so it could reinforce the idea the you are saying L-M-N-O pretty fast.
Since the ABC song is one of three songs that use the same tune it is easy to teach an infant or toddler their alphabet as you sing them to sleep.
The ABC song, Baa-Baa Black Sheep, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star all use the same tune.
Add in the backwards ABC's and you get four songs sung with the same tune so that the whole thing becomes tonally monotonous and soothing and it will tend to relax your child as you rock and sing.
With practice I got pretty good at mixing verses from these four songs on the fly so that the song eventually morphed into a single tune with disconnected lyrics. I used it as a challenge to keep myself awake while I rocked them to sleep.
For grins, the Backward ABC lyrics are:
Z, y, x, w, v, u, t...
S, r, q, p, o, n, m...
L, k, j, i, h, g, f...
E, d, c, b, and a.
Now I've sung them backwards to you,
Can you sing them backwards too?
Pretty easy to see how each letter breaks free of the original forward limitations.