I was taught how to teach International Phonetic Alphabet fifty years ago. This is how good theater and choir directors are able to teach unified vowel production, enabling performance in any language (there are 16 basic Western vowels including the first Umlaut).

@Musicvid  ... I've always been impressed about how opera singers and classical performers like tenors are able to sing with seeming ease in Italian, French, German and English even though only one of those languages is possibly their native language. I think maybe you've provided the 'secret' as to how they do that. Thank you for that.

I've no idea if its true, but urban myth in the late 1960s suggested that the 1966 hit song 'Black is Black' ('I want my baby back') - a favorite of mine - was sung in English by a Spanish pop group, Los Bravos, who did not speak English. But then at the time, there was also an urban myth that The Beatles couldn't read sheet music.

I can't sing in tune ... but if I tried it, perhaps Melodyne might make me sound in tune. Oh, the horror!

@Dexcon Now you've struck a nerve. My first band, ca. 1966. Me on drums.

Can you imagine what those brand new Fenders would bring today?

Our book included Black is Black, Red Rubber Ball, Louie Louie, Midnight Hour, I Want to Hold Your Hand, House of the Rising Sun, Paint it Black, Good Vibrations, La Bamba Gloria, My Generation, Satisfaction, Jumpin' Jack Flash, Yellow Submarine. We didn't really have a second set. As I remember, we got parts of each song right.

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Who needed a second set with a "book" like that?

I've no idea if its true, but urban myth in the late 1960s suggested that the 1966 hit song 'Black is Black' ('I want my baby back') - a favorite of mine - was sung in English by a Spanish pop group, Los Bravos, who did not speak English. 

The guitarist on the left was a Cuban immigrant, a first for our small Nebraska farm community. As a result of that early exposure, I have been heavily influenced over the years by Latino and East L.A. groups like Carlos Santana, Richie Valens, los Lobos, los Lonely Boys, Tito Fuente, Chucho Valdes, Paquito d'Rivera, Jobim, and Eliana Elias.

Who needed a second set with a "book" like that?

I'll second vkmast's comment. What a playlist! That would have been so much fun.

BTW, the very first track I ever heard on CD was in a recording studio's control room - so the speakers were really good. The track was The Who's 'Substitute' (1966). It was wow! I've long thought that 1966 was the best year of the '60s for pop music. It was for me anyway.

And I've kept all my mostly 1970s' 45s and LPs, the latter now well and truly being back in fashion.