One Vision - Live At Wembley Stadium / July 1986

Queen was inspired to write this by their Live Aid appearance in 1985 - millions of people sharing one vision of a better world. When the band was approached to perform at Live Aid, they were in a rut and reticent to appear. But after their show-stopping performance, they re-entered the studio with renewed energy. They were back in Munich (a place they had previously hit trouble during the Hot Space sessions), but this time spent a lot of time working in the studio, not being distracted by drugs or other distractions - unlike the earlier sessions.

All four band members helped write this. Most Queen songs were written separately, mostly out of a desire to keep writing credits to themselves - Brian May has often hinted in interviews that he was quite possessive of his own songs. But this also made sure their songs didn't all sound alike. The idea of writing a song together came from Freddie Mercury. He rang the other three members and asked them to come to the studio, where the writing and recording sessions were taped.

The band decided that the song would be credited to all four of them, but it was basically composed by Brian May (chords) and Roger Taylor (lyrics). Freddie Mercury was in charge of production and arrangements, and he polished what the others composed. This was one of the first times that the band distributed a joint songwriting credit; for their entire career songs had been credited to the original band member who wrote them, even if other band members contributed. For One Vision, the band decided on a joint credit, which would become the norm from next album The Miracle onwards.