Like so many other singers who took part in this one-singer-formula, Michael Ball seems to have been disappointed by the standard of songs he was set up with.
Rumour has it that people at the BBC insisted there must be up-tempo songs included in the line-up - not only big belters - and you can sort of touch Michael Ball's disappointment by the end of the national final as when of these little pop songs win overwhelmingly.
"One Step Out Of Time" made it to second place in Malmö and was a minor hit in the charts, but it's runner-up "As Dreams Go By" - co-written by ESC winner Andy Hill - could have won the whole shebang.
Michael Ball later said he'd rather put pins in his eyes than do Eurovision again.
A deserved 2nd place?
Not at all. Michael Ball and his energetic backing group do all they can to make this pretty sub-standard song take off and look attractive, but they don't have an easy task. Why the jury showered this one in points while ignoring far more interesting entries on the night remains a mystery, but maybe they'd seen Aspects of Love and liked it.
Michael Ball - One Step Out Of Time (United Kingdom 1992)
The funny thing is: "As Dreams Go By" was actually one of Michael's personal choices and the one he wanted to sing in the final.
ReplyDeleteI heard that somewhere too and watching the Song for Europe of 1992 you can sort of tell he enjoys singing it. And it suits him much better too.
DeleteAs Dreams Go By had a little life of its own and got covered by Bette Midler a few years later.
Oh, cool. I didn't know she had covered the song. I must look that up. I know that Michael brought it back himself in his 2003 UK tour.
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