Spanish would probably be a much better lingua franca. More regular, in spelling and pronounciation. Sounds good too.

But it seems pretty likely we're stuck with English for the forseeable future - which is convenient for those of us who speak it. Maybe if the USA gets most of its people speaking Spanish as a first language, things will change.

The thing about ABBA's lyrics is that they are written in a second-language idiom. And after all, for most of the world's English speakers, English is a second-language.

But that can be exaggerated. Here is one I picked at random, one I don't actually think I've ever heard:"If it wasn't for the nights". Nothing phrase-bookish about this one.