- Only the Light
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Only the LightEurovision Song Contest 1987 entry Country United Kingdom Artist(s) Richard Peebles As Rikki Language English Composer(s) Richard Peebles Lyricist(s) Richard Peebles Conductor Ronnie Hazlehurst Finals performance Final result 13th Final points 47 Appearance chronology ◄ Runner in the Night (1986) Go (1988) ► "Only the Light", written and composed by Richard Peebles, was the United Kingdom's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1987, performed by Peebles himself, who was credited at Eurovision as Rikki.
Rikki won the right to perform at Brussels by winning the UK national final, A Song for Europe, where he was the first singer to perform. At Brussels, the song was performed fourteenth on the night, after Luxembourg's Plastic Bertrand with "Amour Amour", and before France's Christine Minier with "Les mots d'amour n'ont pas de dimanche." At the end of judging that evening, "Only the Light" took the thirteenth-place slot with 47 points. It came as a huge disappointment to the United Kingdom as it was the lowest placement any of the country's entries had received up to that time.
Like the previous year, a rock song was in the offering, with an unclear theme (it is never explained what "the light" is, what kind of metaphor it is, why "the light" is after him or why he is avoiding it). On-stage that year were three backup singers and dancers, dressed in white, in addition to a keyboardist. Rikki, a native of Scotland, also accessorised with a tartan cloth slung over his shoulder.
The song placed at #96, not charting on the UK Singles Chart (the Top 75 songs) but as an addenda on the "Next 25" version of the charts. This was the second year of dismal sales for the UK's Eurovision entrant.
Preceded by
Runner in the NightUnited Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest
1987Succeeded by
GoCategories:- 1980s pop song stubs
- Eurovision songs of the United Kingdom
- Eurovision songs of 1987
- 1987 in the United Kingdom
- 1987 singles
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