| Music Fan |
April 17, 2018
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| When I went to a book shop, there was a sale of used CDs in the wagon. They were rather cheap. I found a CD of a female singer who I listened to often when I was young. I felt nostalgia and bought it. It was only a dollar. As soon as I got home, I inserted the CD into my audio set. Soon a familiar female voice was heard. It was a pure, innocent, and somehow warm voice: 'I couldn't say even the word of "good-bye" I only have a heart like Snow White To my dearest man leaving far only my tears flew drop by drop I didn't say "good-bye" to him because "good-bye" is the word of parting Your figure, and your voice will stay in my mind forever' I could taste the feeling of those days, it was a long time ago. The CD had 12 songs. I recognized all of them, they were all popular at that time. Listening again for the first time in ages, I was surprised to find that they were all still fresh. She was the most famous singer at that time from young to old, she was called a national idle. She made her debut in her early twenties. It was sensational to hear  her songs with her innocent, pure appearance. She became very popular, especially among young people like me. Her nickname was White Snow after her song's lyrics. Around her appearance, TV had become colorized. There appeared new types of shows, including pop song stage shows. There were new types of songs made, maybe influenced by the Beatles and other musicians. After her, many female and male idle singers appeared and disappeared. There was an enthusiasm in the whole of society. Her songs were a hit, back-to-back to each other. She appeared not only on music shows but also dramas, variety shows, even quiz shows. But after a certain period, she disappeared, and... A couple of days later after purchasing the CD, a friend of mine, a classmate at junior high school, came to my house. My friend and I are both freelance workers and sometimes he would stop by my house when he was near by. He soon found the CD and said seeing the price seal on the jacket, "Wasting money again?" He added without waiting for my reply, "Haven't you seen her nude pictures? Her body was miserable, I was dissapoin…" He picked up his smartphone and started to search and showed it to me. It was a picture of her naked. He said, "Like this." I didn't want to see it. I knew this thing. Around the time she disappeared from TV, there was a rumor that she suffered from a mental illness. And later, her nude pictures were in a male magazine. I couldn't remember whether I looked at them or not. My friend showed disappointment when I had no interest to see her pictures. I asked him whether he would like to listen to the CD or not. Surprisingly he agreed with it. We listened to the CD without saying anything. After my friend left, I got an idea and started to search on my computer. From Wikipedia I got that the order of songs in the CD was the same as the order that her songs had been released. From the list, I was able to read that she released 23 songs in her singing career. In her first two years, 7 songs were sung, and five were ranked number 1 on the hit charts. After that, her songs became lower, the 23rd song that was sung 11 years later after her debut, had no ranking. From the web, I came to know that her fan club still existed and was active. "Even now?" It had already passed about 40 years after her last song was released. I checked another site and found that there were many YouTube videos made by her fans. In there, her songs were heard with her pictures in her younger days with some other pictures like beautiful flowers, tropical islands, gorgeous castles, etc. I found one YouTube video in which she sang her solo with an acoustic guitar. It was her debut song titled, 'Love in Pale Blue'. From the lyrics, I thought that the last line showed her fans' feelings towards her: 'I couldn't say even the word of "good-bye" I only have a heart like Snow White To my dearest man leaving far only my tears flew drop by drop I didn't say "good-bye" to him because "good-bye" is the word of parting Your figure, and your voice will stay in my mind forever' |
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*part :別れる
*figure :姿
*recognize :それとわかる、聞き覚えがある
*influence :影響する
*enthusiasm :熱狂
*back-to-back to each other :次から次へと、連続して