FIRST LISTEN: JOHNNY CASH RECITES 'I AM THE NATION'

A previously unheard recitation by the late Johnny Cash called "I Am The Nation" will be released Oct. 28 on Legacy Recordings' DVD/CD package Johnny Cash's America, but PEOPLE exclusively has the track now. In the spoken word track – which was found in the iconic singer's personal belongings after his death in 2003 at the age of 71 – Cash speaks poetically about America's diversity and the fundamentals of freedom.
The poignant words were originally a public relations advertisement written in 1955 for the Norfolk and Western Railway by Otto Whittaker.
"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," Cash says on the track.
A rep for the DVD/CD package, said "Johnny's oration of "I Am The Nation" from the film's soundtrack reminds us what our country stands for at a time when Americans seem more divided than ever."
Listen to the track here:

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