# Celine Dion singing "God Bless America"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-singing-god-bless-america/151107>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [January 26, 2003, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-singing-god-bless-america/151107 "2003-01-26T23:15:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-singing-god-bless-america/151107/61 "2003-01-27T18:38:41Z")

</div>

[QUOTE]  
\*Originally posted by RickJay \*  
[B

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by RickJay \*  
> \*\*  
> **Biggirl:**
> 
> Er, you said she was an “American citizen.” That’s a legal concept. You can’t be the citizen of a continent - my passport doesn’t say “Citizen of North America.” Your wording suggested she was, in fact, born a citizen of the United States.

No, my wording suggested she was an American. Which she is. I made a point of saying it would have been strange if she sang The Star Spangled Banner, because she is not a citizen of that nation.

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by RickJay \*  
> [B  
> Oh, and no, my country is not located in “America.” It is located in North America, which is the name of this continent. Canadians generally use “Americans” and “American citizen” to describe residents of the United States. If you tell me I’m an American citizen, I would assume you were mistaken and would correct you; I’m a Canadian citizen. \*\*

Again, she sang about how beautiful America is and how God has blessed her home. Why would I (or anyone) assume she was singing about anything but her home? And here all this time I thought Mexicans, Brazilians, Canadians and all sorts of other people lived in America. Guess I was wrong.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-singing-god-bless-america/151107/62 "2003-01-27T19:25:15Z")

</div>

Yup. Deal with it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-singing-god-bless-america/151107/63 "2003-01-27T20:17:35Z")

</div>

This is ridiculous. She’s not an American citizen, she’s a Canadian citizen who may or may not be living in the United States.

> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by Biggirl_  
> \*\*No, my wording suggested she was an American. \*\*

No, your wording suggested she’s an American citizen. (“She was born a citizen of America. Which makes her an American citizen.”) She was born a citizen of Canada, which makes her a Canadian citizen. And, yes, I think everyone knows Canada is in North America.

I think the OP was just wondering whether people thought it was odd that a Canadian sang what has in the past been referred to as our “unofficial national anthem,” at one of the most uniquely-United Statesian events there is. I did think it was a little odd, as did a few others.

But alright, if CD wants God to bless America-- North, South, East, West, United States of, or any other geographical or national distinction-- who’m I to stop her? (Or Him?) 🙂  
Bah!

Happy

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-singing-god-bless-america/151107.md?page=3)