{"id":9865,"date":"2011-10-26T14:30:42","date_gmt":"2011-10-26T18:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/?p=9865"},"modified":"2011-10-26T19:31:15","modified_gmt":"2011-10-26T23:31:15","slug":"say-it-aint-so-englands-most-american-rocker-paul-rodgers-sworn-in-as-a-canadian-citizen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/say-it-aint-so-englands-most-american-rocker-paul-rodgers-sworn-in-as-a-canadian-citizen\/","title":{"rendered":"Say It Ain\u2019t So: England\u2019s \u201cMost American\u201d Rocker, Paul Rodgers, Sworn in as a Canadian Citizen"},"content":{"rendered":"<iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/el21k7_zNxo?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>Long considered (by myself, if no one else) perhaps England&#8217;s &#8220;most American&#8221; rocker, former Bad Company\/Free vocalist <strong>Paul Rodgers<\/strong> was sworn in today as a Canadian citizen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>*PAUL RODGERS SWORN IN AS A CANADIAN CITIZEN*<\/p>\n<p>October 26, 2011 &#8211; At a public ceremony in Surrey, B.C. last Friday October 21st\u00a0 The legendary *Paul Rodgers* was sworn in as a Canadian Citizen.<\/p>\n<p>A statement from Paul:<\/p>\n<p>It may not be my native land but Canada is surely now my home.\u00a0 While I&#8217;ll always be an Englishman, Canada has given me so much for which I am grateful.\u00a0 My wife, your former Miss Canada Cynthia Kereluk, a new and extended family and the chance to be truly free in a country that with its quiet strength combines the best of so many worlds.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m proud to be a Canuck.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you, Merci.<\/p>\n<p>Paul Rodgers<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I don&#8217;t know about you, but I&#8217;m hurt\u2014and a bit pissed. Bad Co and Free were totally aimed at Americans! Any sales in the UK or Canada were a bonus. Bad Co so badly wanted to be American it wasn&#8217;t funny. I bet Rodgers was jealous of the English guys in <strong>Foreigner<\/strong>, who presented such a Corporate American Rock image that they\u00a0could slip across our border without use of a passport. Play me one <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/ragged-canadian-chorus-aka-ragged-hippie-chorus\/\" target=\"_blank\">ragged Canadian chorus<\/a> in any Bad Co song!\u00a0Johnny didn&#8217;t travel to Toronto to become a shooting star, did he? Have you ever suspected the slightest sense of humor from any Bad Co recording? Canadians are funny, man! Everybody knows that. And what&#8217;s with the &#8220;Merci?&#8221; He&#8217;s gonna try to convince us he speaks French after 40 years touring the world with his brand of Goon Rock?<\/p>\n<p>Surely Rodgers has been suffering through an identity crisis since <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/rth-exclusive-paul-rodgers-seger-inducti\/\" target=\"_blank\">his stirring induction speech<\/a> for <strong>Bob Seger<\/strong>&#8216;s entrance to Rock Town Hall&#8217;s <strong>Foyer of Fame<\/strong>. He thought he could replace <strong>Freddie Mercury<\/strong> in a reformed Queen. Wasn&#8217;t that like casting <strong>Clint Eastwood<\/strong> as the <a href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_SXI9xWkTQek\/TQVVIJfHVmI\/AAAAAAAAD1o\/RV3Cgcfj69c\/s1600\/BAD%2BCOMPANY%2B-%2BPaul%2BRogers%2BMadison%2BSquare%2Barden%252C%2BNYC%2B-1977.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">transvestite singer<\/a> in <em>The Crying Game<\/em>? I know, Canada gave &#8217;70s arena rockers around the world hockey sweaters, and as he mentions, he plucked his <a href=\"http:\/\/guy.com\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Cynthia-Kereluk-7.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">beautiful wife<\/a> from\u00a0their land,\u00a0but still&#8230; I&#8217;m more Canadian than Rodgers. If Rodgers was going to defect he should have defected to the US of A.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s hoping our Canadian correspondents will check in with their thoughts on this stunning news. I really don&#8217;t mean to take anything away from your great country. Everything Rodgers says about it is true. I just don&#8217;t like the fact that he chose you over us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Long considered (by myself, if no one else) perhaps England&#8217;s &#8220;most American&#8221; rocker, former Bad Company\/Free vocalist Paul Rodgers was sworn in today as a Canadian citizen.\u00a0\u00a0 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE *PAUL RODGERS SWORN IN AS A CANADIAN CITIZEN* October 26, 2011 &#8211; At a public ceremony in Surrey, B.C. last Friday October 21st\u00a0 The legendary <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/say-it-aint-so-englands-most-american-rocker-paul-rodgers-sworn-in-as-a-canadian-citizen\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342,16],"tags":[297,121],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9865"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9865\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}