The Backward Alphabet Song

Rani Merens in DeBary, Florida, writes:

The reason it’s easy to recite the alphabet forward but not backward is that we learned to sing it forward. (September 27, 2015) The tune is what makes it easy to remember. When I taught pre-K, we sang it both ways! Try this, to the tune of the Alphabet Song:

Z, Y, X, W, V, and U
T and S and R and Q
P-O-N-M-L-K-J
I-H-G-F
E-D
C-B-A
A little practice, you won’t go wrong
And you can sing this backward song!

Marilyn responds:

Actually, the question was about why–in contrast to counting backward–we find it difficult to recite the alphabet backward, not why we find it easy to recite the alphabet forward. Those are two different questions, and the answer to the latter would have included more than remembering the catchy tune. (And we don’t learn the order of numbers by singing.) Good luck learning this little song, readers: Personally, I would need way more than a little practice!