Sandman, I speak English with a fairly strong eastern Canadian accent, in which the R sound is produced at the back of the mouth in a very in-your-face fashion. When singing, I often roll initial Rs on the tip of my tongue to ensure that the rest of the song does not vanish behind a noise appropriate only for Talk Like A Pirate Day.

I have an old tape recording of myself singing a Bach aria in German. That Carleton County snarl pops out of the text like a rake handle out of the grass. “Wachet auf! rrrrrruft uns die Stimme … “