Only the Light

"Only the Light"
Eurovision 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 No. 96, not charting on the UK Singles Chart Top 40 (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.

Charts

Chart (1987)	Peak position
UK Singles Official Charts Company	96

References

Preceded by "Runner in the Night" by Ryder

United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987

Succeeded by "Go" by Scott Fitzgerald