Worst pop lyric goes to - Des'ree

British singer Des'ree has gained the dubious distinction of being responsible for the worst lyric in pop history.

In a fiercely fought BBC Radio poll in London, she took the prize for: "I don't want to see a ghost, it's the sight that I fear most, I'd rather have a piece of toast, watch the evening news."

She secured almost 30 per cent of the vote in the listener poll conducted by BBC DJ Marc Riley.

The runner-up prize went to Snap for "I'm as serious as cancer, when I say rhythm is a dancer."

Third place went to Razorlight for the lyric "And I met a girl, she asked me my name, I told her what it was."

Michael Fry, lead singer of ABC, had been hoping to land the prize with his lyric "Can't complain, mustn't grumble, help yourself to another piece of apple crumble."

"I have been waiting for this kind of accolade for years," Fry told BBC Radio before the result dashed his hopes of dubious immortality. I would say to anyone writing songs that you shouldn't really put food in song lyrics," he said before finishing in a disappointing fourth place.

"Foodstuffs and rock 'n' roll just don't go together. Bad lyrics can also just be a case of churning it out. Sometimes you reach verse three and the car is running outside so you have got to get the thing finished," Fry said.

"There is an element of that in the conveyor belt star-making machinery of pop."