"
Once" is a song by the American
rock band
Pearl Jam. Featuring lyrics written by vocalist
Eddie Vedder and music written by guitarist
Stone Gossard, "Once" is the first track on the band's debut album,
Ten (1991). On
Ten, it is preceded by a brief interlude of the album's closing hidden track, "Master/Slave". Besides
Ten, the song was also featured as a
B-side on the single for "
Alive". Remixed versions of the song were included on Pearl Jam's 2004 greatest hits album,
Rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991–2003), and the 2009
Ten reissue. The song is one of the band's heaviest compositions to date.