John Lennon has defeated Elvis Presley to be voted the greatest rock 'n' roll icon of all time in a poll conducted by Q music magazine.

Paul McCartney, Lennon's fellow Beatle songwriter, managed just 12th place in the poll.

In a special tribute to Lennon for the magazine, his widow, Yoko Ono said: "He was a driven man: it was as if he knew that he was to stay on Earth for a relatively short time."  Lennon was gunned down by a deranged fan outside his New York apartment in 1980 at the age of 40.

Yoko said: "He changed people's awareness in an incredible way, both with words and music. He was not afraid to tell the truth and thus give us a clearer picture of what was really going on."

Meanwhile Bob Dylan's song "Like A Rolling Stone" topped top US music magazine Rolling Stone's list of the top 500 rock songs of all time. Number 500 is Boston's "More Than A Feeling" ... (SOURCES: YAHOO NEWS and ROLLING STONE)