By Sean Fitz-Gerald, Postmedia Olympic Team

Alan Frew knows how you might feel about his song, the one that took control of Canadian television broadcasts at the Vancouver Olympics two years ago, and the one that is doing the same from London this summer.

Frew, a five-time Juno Award winner, has already been through it as the frontman for the band Glass Tiger. So he knows some Canadians might be fatigued with the Olympic anthem he co-wrote - the ever-present I Believe. "Any hit song suffers some sort of backlash," he said. "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone) is a beloved, classic pop song still played thousands of times every day around the world, yet I remember some people back in the day saying, 'If I hear that song again I swear I am going to jump from the highest building.' "I simply said, 'Please don't Dad!' And then I bought him a house."

The Olympic anthem, and the recording by then-16-year-old singer Nikki Yanofsky, was placed into heavy rotation in Vancouver, leading into and out of commercial breaks and providing the soundtrack for Canadian success on the field of play. A version of the song has more than 1.2 million views on YouTube.

Last week, the Canadian Olympic broadcast consortium announced it had re-recorded the song, with a new version from The Tenors to be rolled out during the London Olympics, to "complement the original by Nikki Yanofsky."

Frew, who worked with Stephan Moccio to compose the song, said the inspiration came in part from the athletes, and the dedication required to appear on the Olympic stage. In an email, he described that focus as "at times unfathomable, practically bordering on madness."

"The life of an athlete and the life of a musician are not that far apart," Frew said in the email. "Whether it's a family of five on the snowball trail of hockey arenas, or a band of five on the snowball trail of bars and gigs, the bottom line is they are all dreaming of being 'out there' or 'up there' one day, whether it be on the ice or on stage."

And so the song is a tribute, in a way.

Given its roots, then, would a back-lash to the song bother him?

"Six million CDs sold in my lifetime; travelled the world as a young single lad in one of the most popular bands of the day; still writing songs for my favourite country and my favourite hockey team," he said.

"So let me answer your question with a question: Do you think it bothers me?" Frew typed an emoticon to indicate he was winking as he wrote that last sentence. The 55-year-old has a history of mixing his songs with sport, and also of discussing that mixture with good humour.

Last season, the Toronto Maple Leafs - his favourite hockey team - struggled under an 0-9-3 run when another of his songs, Free To Be, played before games at the Air Canada Centre.

In contrast to those struggles, I Believe was the soundtrack for a record performance in Vancouver, with the Canadian team winning a Winter Olympics-best 14 gold medals.

"Free To Be is a song about a nation, not a hockey team, and as a song about that nation it is well crafted," he said.

"I Believe is a song about desire, passion and belief. And again, I feel the same way again about it hitting its mark. They are well-crafted songs and I am proud of them."