Pop music and movie star Jay Chou from Taiwan struggled to produce a song for the Beijing Games because neither he nor long-time collaborator Vincent Fang had attempted writing this kind of music before.

Zhou Jielun

The pair worked on the song A Long Journey for five months and finished a demo in Taipei on March 9. Chou told the Shanghai-based Oriental Daily he rushed to complete the song and ended up e-mailing it to Beijing Olympic officials at night just before the deadline.

BOCOG will reveal the songs for the Olympics and Paralympics 100 days before the respective Games start.

Chou, known for his roles in the Zhang Yimou-directed Curse of the Golden Flower and Initial D, said the song marked a new departure for him.

"I think the feeling of the electric guitars is a little stronger than just using the piano," Chou said. "If listeners from Europe and America hear this kind of music, I hope it can make them jump back a little!"

The song blends Chou's traditional Chinese sounds with other genres like rock and electro.

Some of Fang's lyrics, written in Mandarin, have already been leaked on the Internet: "A long journey, countless nights, waiting for a clear moon, on the border of dreams, the wind blows ceaselessly, never feeling tired, the East is worthy, who is number one, let us pursue perfection."

March 10 was the closing date for the fourth round of Olympic song solicitations. Organizers said they were looking for 25 songs for the Olympic Games, 10 songs for the Paralympics, one theme song each for the Olympic and Paralympic torch relays, theme songs for the volunteers and a piece of music for the award ceremonies.

Light the Passion, Share the Dream, composed by Hong Kong musician Chris Babida, has already been named for the Olympic torch relay, which got underway March 24. I am a Star, by Emil Chau, will be used for Olympic volunteers.

Giorgio Moroder and Kong Xiangdong's Forever Friends is considered a leading candidate for the Olympic theme tune. This would be Moroder's third Olympic theme song.

"National characteristics should be reflected in the song," he said. "For example, Korean musical elements were used in Hand in Hand. This time, we have used Chinese music from Liu Yang River instead of Jasmine, because the latter has been overused."

BOCOG started song hunting in 2003 and collected over 300 in 2005 alone, including Wishing Star by another Taiwan artist, Huang Dawei. Over 4,000 songs have been submitted over the last four years, including at least 30 for the theme song.

Canadian singer Celine Dion, who will perform on April 13 at Beijing Workers' Stadium, has also sent a candidate theme song to BOCOG. The multiple Grammy Award winner sang The Power of the Dream at the opening ceremony of the 1996 Atlanta Games. Four years ago in Athens, Icelandic artist Bjork took the honor, performing Oceania in a towering white and purple dress.

Former Olympic gold medalist Yang Ling penned the lyrics to one offering entitled I stand on the Olympic Winner's Podium.

Beijing Satellite TV (BTV1) launched the program Olympic Songfest on Jan 5 last year so viewers could vote for their favorites.