New Recording Of Johnny Cash Reciting "I Am The Nation" To Be Released

September 26, 2008 6:11 p.m. EST

Los Angeles, CA (CNS) - In this time when America seems more divided than ever, it may do everyone good to listen to Johnny Cash's "I Am The Nation."

A previously unheard recitation of "I Am The Nation," read by the late Johnny Cash, will be released on October 28 on Legacy Recording's DVD/CD package called Johnny Cash's America.

The spoken track was found in the late singer's personal belongings after his death in 2003 at the age of 71. In the recording, Cash speaks poignantly about America's diversity and the fundamentals of freedom.

The words were originally a public relations advertisement for the Norfolk and Western Railway. It was written in 1955 by Otto Whittaker.

In his distinctive voice, Cash can be heard on the track saying, "May I possess always the integrity, the courage and the strength to keep myself unshackled, to remain a citadel of freedom and a beacon of hope to the entire world."