| "One Step Out of Time" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byMichael Ball | ||||
| Released | 13 April 1992 (1992-04-13)[1] | |||
| Length | 3:00 | |||
| Label | Polydor | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
| |||
| Producer(s) | Mike Smith | |||
| Michael Ball singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Eurovision Song Contest 1992 entry | ||||
| Country | ||||
| Artist(s) | ||||
| Language | English | |||
| Composer(s) |
| |||
| Lyricist(s) |
| |||
| Conductor | ||||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 2nd | |||
| Final points | 139 | |||
| Entry chronology | ||||
| ◄ "A Message to Your Heart" (1991) | ||||
| "Better the Devil You Know" (1993) ► | ||||
"One Step Out of Time", written and composed by Paul Davies, Tony Ryan, and Victor Stratton, was theUnited Kingdom's entry at theEurovision Song Contest 1992, performed byMichael Ball.
The song was included on Ball's1992 self-titled debut album as well as the albumPast and Present, which was released on 9 March 2009.[3]
The song is a mid-tempo ballad, relating the singer's comfort with being "one step out of time" in relation to rejecting the reality around him, instead pining after his former lover. Not accepting that his relationship is over, and spurning the disapproval of his friends, he wishes to put "his love on the line" one more time, imploring his former lover to just let him know what he had done wrong.
After the disappointing resultSamantha Janus received on behalf of the United Kingdom atRome 1991, the UK national final,A Song for Europe, was retooled. Reverting to the selection process which decided the entries from 1964 to 1975, a singer was picked internally by theBBC, and the public would vote on which song would go with them to the Eurovision finals. Ball sang eight songs onA Song for Europe 1992, and "One Step Out of Time", performed seventh, emerged as the winner by an overwhelming margin (over 60,000telephone votes separated the first and second-place finishers).[citation needed]
At the contest, held inMalmö, the song was performed sixteenth on the night, afterAustria'sTony Wegas with "Zusammen geh'n", and beforeIreland'sLinda Martin with "Why Me?". At the end of voting that evening, "One Step Out of Time", the pre-contest favourite, took the second-place slot with 139 points.Belgium,Austria,Denmark andGermany awarded the UK their 12 points that evening. Despite losing by 16 points to "Why Me?",[4] the UK received more 12 point designations than Ireland (four to three). This would be the third of four second-place finishes the UK had placed between 1988 and 1993.
Before Eurovision, the song debuted and peaked at No. 20 on theUK Singles Chart, and stayed in the chart for seven weeks.[5]
| Chart (1992) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles (OCC)[5] | 20 |
