"Runner in the Night", written by Maureen Darbyshire and composed by Brian Wade, was the 's entry at the

Eurovision Song Contest 1986 The Eurovision Song Contest 1986 was the 31st edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Bergen, Norway, following the country's victory at the with the song "La det swinge" by Bobbysocks! Organised by the European Broadcastin ...

, performed by the sextet

Ryder Ryder System, Inc., commonly known as Ryder, is an American transportation and logistics company. It is especially known for its fleet of commercial rental trucks. Ryder specializes in fleet management, supply chain management, and transp ...

, led by Maynard Williams.

Song information

Ryder won the right to perform at

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

by winning the UK national final, ''

A Song for Europe A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'', where they were the sixth act to perform. At Bergen, the song was performed fifth on the night, after 's

Ketil Stokkan Ketil Stokkan (born 29 April 1956) is a Norwegian pop artist who has performed as solo artist as well as the singer in the Norwegian band Zoo. Stokkan was born in Harstad. In 1983 he participated in the Norwegian qualifying heat for Eurovision ...

with "

Romeo Romeo Montague () is the male protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet''. The son of Lord Montague and his wife, Lady Montague, he secretly loves and marries Juliet, a member of the rival House of Capulet, through a priest ...

", and before 's debut effort, "

Gleðibankinn Iceland was present at the Eurovision Song Contest 1986, held in Bergen, Norway. It was the first time Iceland was represented in the contest. While the country had satellite television contact from other nations (the United States and Canada) sin ...

", by

ICY Icy commonly refers to conditions involving ice, a frozen state, usually referring to frozen water. Icy or Icey may also refer to: People * Icy Spicy Leoncie, an Icelandic-Indian musician Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ICY (band), a vocal ...

. At the end of judging that evening, "Runner in the Night" took the seventh-place slot with 72 points. The song was a contemporary rock offering, departing from the norm at the time in that the sextet played instruments themselves (including a set of

electronic drum Electronic drums is a modern electronic musical instrument, primarily designed to serve as an alternative to an acoustic drum kit. Electronic drums consist of an electronic sound module which produces the synthesized or sampled percussion sounds ...

s and

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

s) and did not use an orchestra. The song itself is about a man "running in the night" to a woman he has previously left, hoping he is not too late and that his former lover will forgive him and take him back.

Charts

The song placed at No. 98, not charting on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

(the Top 75 songs) but as an addenda on the "Next 25" version of the charts. This was the worst commercial showing for a UK Eurovision entry since 1964, in which the entry that year didn't chart on the Singles Chart at all.

References

External links

''Runner in the Night'' lyrics
Eurovision songs of the United Kingdom Eurovision songs of 1986 1986 in the United Kingdom Virgin Records singles 1986 singles 1986 songs {{1980s-pop-song-stub