"Itoshiki Natasha" (My dear Natasha)
(from Team B 4th stage "Idol no yoake")
Team B (Sashihara Rino [centre], Katayama Haruka, Tanabe Miku)
words: Akimoto Yasushi
music: Yoshino Takao
point of view: non specified in the verse, male first person and language in the chorus
theme: love song
original lyrics
listen to Itoshiki Natasha on youtube
Aiming for the distant Siberia
There was a man who smuggled himself on a freight ship
On the soil of the tundra even dreams freeze
He can't even see any future in this sky
The meaning of keeping walking over iced snow
looking for his most beloved woman
Natasha, how many times
Do I have to call out your name for it to reach you?
You should be there, beyond the wall of despair
Ah- love is my only reason to live
How much time has passed?
The never changing scenery is closing in the colour of his loneliness
He wanted to know the tears
That lie inside a speechless kindness
Has he forgotten how to put an end to something
Because of his footsteps and of the words brought by the wind?
His love lies at the furthest end
Natasha, my memories
See an illusion of you
This eternal Winter deludes my heart
Ah- love will be tomorrow's miracle
Even if I, dead tired, should collapse on the road
And lose my life I wouldn't have any regrets
Natasha, how many times
Do I have to call out your name for it to reach you?
You should be there, beyond the wall of despair
Ah- love is my only reason to live
Comment
"Itoshiki Natasha", music-wise, is a classic rock, powerful song. The lyrics tell the story of a man, presumably Japanese, who crosses over to Siberia to look for his lost Russian love, Natasha. It has the feel of a novel set in the XVIII or XIX century: the main character smuggles on a freight and gets to Siberia as a clandestine, and he keeps walking from town to town, in freezing weather, under snow storms, looking for the slightest hints (the "words brought by the wind"), without ever giving up his quest for his dear Natasha. The verses in the second part of the song seem to hint that he will never find her - but it's only the memory of Natasha, his illusion of her, that gives him the strenght to go on living.
The characteristic of these lyrics is that while the verses tell the story of the man in third person, the chorus switches to first person and have the man call out Natasha's name.
I also really like the Winter imagery with their strong relation to the unescapable loneliness of the man.
Not lyrics-wise, I think this is my favourite song from any Team B stage, ever (although none of the three members of this unit is in Team B anymore). One funny tidbit is that when Sashihara Rino, Katayama Haruka and Tanabe Miku took on "stage names" for this song: Dorian Sashihara, Divas Senorita Katayama and Glorious Tanabe, forming "Team Karyuudo" (Team Hunters). XD I think it started as a joke but then it stuck; if you watch the performance, you can hear the audience calling "Dorian", "Divas" and "Guro-chan" instead of the idols' real names.
