New Year Dance

A free downloadable MP3 version of "New Year Dance" is available at Wallace's Web site, www.airbornmusic.com.

"We aren't Lennon and McCartney by any means, who wrote some great songs together, of course, but I think George and I worked really well together in a long-distance Internet collaboration that wasn't about ego or getting personal credit, but just having fun doing it," Bloom said.

After recording and mastering the song at his home studio, Wallace sent the song back through the information superhighway to Taiwan for Bloom to have a listen.

"I had the easy part, just writing the words," Bloom wrote. "George did all the heavy lifting and turned a simple happy-feel lyric into a resounding choral song."

Wallace and Bloom said they hope the song will proliferate through the Internet and become a tune associated annually with the holiday, similar to the "Happy Birthday" song.

After being barraged by Christmas music during the holiday season, there is kind of a lull in celebratory music in the week leading up to New Year's, Wallace said. With the exception of the tradition of "Auld Lang Syne" being played at midnight of Jan. 1, there isn't much New Year's-specific music out there, he said.

"What we're really trying to do - it's not about the money - it's about putting out a cool song with a cool message that somehow makes the world a more peaceful place to live," Wallace said.

The goal was to create an international celebration song to be played up to and during the New Year, he said. The song includes "call outs" of "Happy New Year" in eight different languages: Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, French, Russian, Norwegian, Hebrew and English.

"We created the song and are making it available online for free as a gift to the world, just for fun, and to celebrate the New Year worldwide with a global anthem," Bloom wrote via e-mail.

http://www.juneauempire.com/entertainment/images/122707/15242_500.jpg

Photo of George Wallace, co-writer, composer

Juneau musician George Wallace hopes an international collaboration through the World Wide Web will result in a global embrace of a fresh New Year's anthem.

Wallace responded to an online advertisement last summer from American expatriate lyricist D. H. Bloom, who lives in Taiwan, about providing the music for a New Year's song. The six-month cyberspace collaboration culminated with the song "New Year Dance."

Web collaborators hope to get the world dancing on New Year's Eve
Song-writing duo - who have never met - co-create international celebration song

http://www.juneauempire.com/entertainment/stories/122707/art_20071227001.shtml

Well, New Year's Eve is coming up in just a few days, and the Juneau Empire in Alaska is poised to publish an interview with George Wallace the composer of the song on Thursday in a supplement called Hooligans. I will print the link here when I get it. George did a live interview with KTOO radio there, too, last week, and they played the song on air. Go go go, little song!