I know exactly what you mean and it used to be much, much worse, but he still has some way to go, yet he's learning (at those first Rainbow gigs in 2016 it bordered on the hilarious with his then strictly phonetic singing). Not that Michael Schenker (after 50 years of living in English-speaking countries,
mein Gott, er macht uns alle zu Narren!) is a master of ze Engleesh langwich who could help him a lot.
I just didn't raise it this time because I didn't want to be Mr Arrogant pointing fingers at someone's accent and maybe less than complete grasp of English (I did that once at the Dudepit with Rudy Sarzo's then very heavy Cubano-English and it has haunted me ever since, it was a real cheap shot from me), especially when he has put in some hard work as Ronnie obviously has. But you as a Dutchman with your fearsome no-frills national directness eschewing any type of diplomacy and naming all pink elephants in the room went straight for it of course ...
Diese Holländer ... But you're right, he'd probably be much better if he sang in Spanish, his mother tongue.
Arnel Pineda of modern day Journey had a similar issue, I wasn't all that sure whether he really understood what he was singing about with those Steve Perry lyrics initially either. But he's perked up considerably (and his English was from the start better than Ronnie Romero's), listen to him now:
Then again I sometimes think that you and I as non-native speakers obsess about stuff like that while mother tongue Yanks or Limeys just shrug it off. I alwys thought Klaus Meine's English cringeworthy (most Germans do) and feared the Scorpions would be laughed at in the States, but no such thing ever happened (zere vould be zome jökes about it in ze Eeengleesh rock press, but not really mean-spirited). I've raised it often with American rock fans and they seem pretty oblivious to the whole accent- and "does he really know what he is singing about"-thing. And then there are acts like ABBA where the "
singing/sång in Swedenglish" is part of their undeniable charm. The "
where they play the right myoo-zick"
at 00:55-57 (and repeated more often in the course of the song) makes Edith and me crack up every time to this day, but we wouldn't want it any other way.
But even Agnetha and Frida were more convincing in
svenska.
When they sang in English they always sounded a bit removed from the subject matter, which they probably were given that the
flickor/girls had zero input with the lyrics.
Sigh, Agnetha's blue glam outfit is still iconic after all these years ...
Jag älskar dig!