U2's bittersweet meditation on love, One, has been named the greatest song ever recorded.


Music experts placed the tune, which had only a brief and unremarkable spell in the charts, above efforts by Elvis and The Beatles.

It topped the list in a special edition of respected music magazine Q honouring the 1001 Best Songs Ever.

U2 guitarist The Edge said: "When we named it, I always knew it would be number one at something."

The song was recorded at the tail end of 1990, roughly halfway through the band's - so far - quarter century career, as they tried to reinvent themselves with the Achtung Baby album.

The band, yearning to leave behind the earnest flag-waving of old had headed to the Berlin studios where David Bowie recorded Heroes.

"We all went out into the big recording room - a huge, eerie ballroom full of ghosts of the war - and everything fell into place," The Edge told the Q special.

The song - which peaked at number seven in the chart and managed just six weeks in the top 75 - is a favourite at weddings and was recorded to dramatic effect by the late Johnny Cash.



Beatles: Down at No 4





Q's writers and a selection of well-known musicians cast their votes for the list of great songs.

Runner-up was Aretha Franklin's I Say A Little Prayer, written by the renowned songwriting partnership Bacharach and David.

Nirvana came third with Smells Like Teen Spirit, the rock anthem which briefly made them possibly the world's biggest band.

And The Beatles' epic production A Day In The Life - a segue of a Lennon tune connected to a McCartney track with the aid of producer George Martin's euphoric string arrangement - was fourth.

The Fab Four have seven other tracks in the top 1001, including Something, In My Life and Paperback Writer.

Radiohead have the highest number of entries in the list with nine songs - the highest, Creep, at number seven.

Editor in chief of the special edition, Paul Trynka, said: "Our writers and experts weren't asked to name the most historic songs of all time - rather it was the songs they enjoy hearing; songs you can use every day, whether that be on your Walkman or your brand new iPod."