God Bless America (charity album) performed a new arrangement of "God Bless America" on the telethon "". The recorded version of this, done the day before the telethon in the event something happened and Dion could not appear, became the title track of this compilation. It, along with a live acoustic performance by John Mellencamp, were the only tracks on the album not to have been previously released. The selections ranged over many decades, with recordings being used going back to 1945. The span of material was quite large; the album included "This Land Is Your Land", which Woody Guthrie had written in annoyed reaction
God Bless America (charity album) to "God Bless America", as well as both the overtly patriotic "God Bless the USA" and the far different "Blowin' in the Wind". Two live recordings are used, both performances in New York City. The album debuted at number 1 on the "Billboard" 200, selling 181,000 copies in its first week of release. In doing so, it became the first charity album to reach the top since USA for Africa's "We Are the World" in 1985. Dion's title track single also received enough radio airplay to reach number 14 on Billboard's Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. The album's release came