I also heard that it’s a good idea to start with the last verse: otherwise you can end up knowing the start of the song really well, but not so good on the later verses.

I used to do a lot of am-dram and operetta: my best way of learning lines, cues, tunes and lyrics was……wait for it…..in the car, listening to, and speaking or singing along with recordings. I would make my own tapes of the spoken lines first, and our musical director would make note-learning tapes for the various voice parts. Now some might say this was a recipe for a road crash, but I never had one! Other drivers might wonder at this woman who was ranting away to herself!
I have tried the writing down thing, and it just doesn’t work for me at all.