Bananarama "A Trick Of The Night (Single & Video)"

"A Trick of the Night" is a mid-tempo ballad recorded by English girl group Bananarama. It was written and produced by Steve Jolley and Tony Swain and released as the final single from Bananarama's album True Confessions.

The song was re-recorded for UK single release, with new synthesizer tracks and vocal arrangement by the Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW) production trio, at the request of London Records for the UK release.

The cautionary message in the lyrics are directed towards a friend who has gone to seek his fortune in the big city and ended up a rentboy.

"A Trick of the Night" was a top-forty hit in the UK, peaking at number thirty-two (the SAW-remixed version received the most airplay in their home country), while the ballad version stalled at number seventy-six on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The single spent one week in the Australian Kent Music Report top 100 singles chart, where it peaked at number ninety-nine. "A Trick of the Night" peaked at number twenty-four in Ireland.

The song was included on the CD version of Greatest Hits Collection as a bonus track; it was not included on the vinyl version nor their 2001 compilation The Very Best of Bananarama.

It was included on the soundtrack to the 1986 American film Jumpin' Jack Flash.

Two videos were filmed for the song. The North American version was directed by Andy Morahan featured the girls singing the song in a house at night, with their images projected on movie screens. The release of the single in the UK was delayed until February 1987, so that Bananarama could participate in a BBC television show called In at the Deep End. Each week Chris Serle or Paul Heiney would have to master a new skill - in this case, Paul Heiney had to master the art of directing a pop music video (the episode was similar to MTV's Making the Video program) for this song. Group members Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward hated the final product.