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America 'Honored' By Michael Jackson's 'A Place With No Name' Sample

Jackson used folk-rock band's 'A Horse With No Name' in unreleased track.

The men behind "A Horse With No Name" -- the song [artist id="1102"]Michael Jackson[/artist] sampled in an unreleased track that surfaced after his death -- say they're "honored" that the late King of Pop decided to use their work.

In a statement to MTV News, Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley, two-thirds of folk-rock act America, expressed their gratitude that Jackson chose their song to work into a tune called "A Place With No Name," and their regrets that his fans didn't get to hear the finished version during his lifetime.

"We're honored that Michael Jackson chose to record it and we're impressed with the quality of the track," the statement reads. "We're also hoping it will be released soon so that music listeners around the world can hear the whole song and once again experience the incomparable brilliance of Michael Jackson."

Last week, TMZ obtained a snippet of "A Place With No Name," an unreleased Jackson song that borrowed the strummed guitar from "A Horse With No Name." Jackson shared a manager with American in the late '80s and early '90s, though it's unclear just when he recorded the song.

America -- then comprised of Bunnell, Beckley and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Dan Peek -- scored a massive hit in 1972 with "Horse," which went to #1 on the Billboard singles chart and propelled their self-titled debut album to multi-platinum sales.

It's not known whether the full version of "Place" will be released, but according to Jackson's one-time boss, former Sony Music chairman and CEO Tommy Mottola, there are "dozens and dozens" of [article id="1616388"]MJ songs in the vaults that could trickle out for years to come[/article].

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