¿Puedes oir los tambores, Fernando?

Okay, I was listening to my ABBA CD . . .

<pause for mocking laughter to die down>

Any time now, folks . . .

Thank you.

Anyway, I noticed that while most of the song "Fernando" is sung
in what sounds like pretty standard AmE, there are odd bits in the
second verse.  For instance, "Since many years I haven't seen a rifle
in your hand".  Aside from the odd phrasing (std AmE would be "It's been
many years since I've seen a rifle in your hand"), the phrase
"many years" comes out as [,mEni'CI`r\z].  (Which seems odd; I'd
expect [j\] rather than [C] in that position.  Maybe it's just
a fortis [j\] and my English-trained ear hears it as voiceless...)
Then in the later line "I can see it in your eyes how proud you were ...",
the "your eyes"  comes out as [dZ)r\='Ajs] rather than [jr\='Ajz].

Now, it could be that both the phrasing and the pronunciation are
an attempt to add a little authentic-sounding Mexican flavor to the
song, but I find it odd that it would be so isolated; all the
rest of the <y>s come out as [j], etc.  So I was wondering if these
artifacts were possibly bits of Swedish poking through?  It doesn't
seem likely to me, since from what I know Swedish <j> is pronounced
the same as English <y> - the approximant [j], not a fricative.

Anyway, just trying to make sense of an oddity.  Any help
appreciated.

-Mark

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