Speaking of "alternate Alphabet songs," this video showed up on my YouTube rec list:

[capri0mni]

From the very first season of Sesame Street, sung by Big Bird (Music by Joe Raposo; Lyrics by Raposo and Jon Stone):

ABC-DEF-GHI

Synopsis: Big Bird mistakes the Alphabet for a single long word, and he pronounces it like so:

"Ab-Ca-Def-Ghee*-Jeckle-Mih-Nop-Kwer-Stoov-Wix-iz"

Visual creepiness and/or disturbed nostalgia warning: they hadn't yet settled on Big Bird's proper look yet, and his head is disturbingly small in proportion to his beak and the rest of his body; you can almost see Carrol Spinney's hand and wrist inside the body suit.

Still a great song though... And the scary thing? I'm pretty sure I remember seeing this early version, back when it aired for the very first time; I would have been well past my sixth birthday (but not yet "six-and-a-half").



(Spoken -- exclaimed):
Oh, that is some kind of word -- Whoa!

(Sung -- uptempo march):
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 awfully "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!

(Spoken):
I could ask Gordon... or Bob... They might know.
On the other hand...

It might be kind of an elephant
Or a funny kind of kazoo
Or a strange, exotic turtle
That you never see in a zoo
Or maybe a kind of a doggie
Or a particular shade of blue
Or maybe a pretty flower
[*considers*]
Naah, ...not with a name like that! Uh uh!

(Sung):
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 sure 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 awfully "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!





*That is: "Hard-G; long-E"

Comments

[dharma_slut]

Wow, funny to see those as an adult who knows something about puppetry. I can see that Big Bird's right hand is a dummy, and he does all his gesturing with his left hand-- Spinney's left hand, of course, while the head is managed by the right hand and arm held over his head... ouch. Hard to believe that didn't cripple him!

[capri0mni]

*nod*

Plus, the other half of his working day is spent crouched inside the trash can as Oscar...

You might be interested in this NPR interview with Spinney from 2003, when his memoir The Wisdom of Big Bird, and the Dark Genius of Oscar the Grouch came out:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1249919
(the short "extra" clip, where Oscar explains how being miserable makes him happy is a hoot).

The Muppet Wiki page on Big Bird does note that Max Vogel has been Spinney's understudy since 1998... so it looks like he's finally preparing to retire...