Matsubara was born November 28, 1959[2] in Kishiwada, Osaka in Japan. She spent her childhood in Hiraoka Town, Nishi-ku, Sakai, Osaka.
She grew up in a family of four, including a father, a mother and a younger sister. Her father was a board member of a hospital and her mother was a jazz singer who had sung with the Japanese jazz band and comedy group Crazy Cats. Matsubara started learning the piano at the age of three and later became familiar with jazz. As a child, she went to Sakai city's Hiraoka Elementary School and then in 1972, entered Poole Gakuin Junior High School. Around this time Matsubara became interested in rock music and joined the rock band "Kurei". In 1975 she started in Poole Gakuin High School and became active as a keyboard player of the band "Yoshinoya Band". They would play songs at a live house called Takutaku located in Kyoto. Matsubara was described as an excellent student and was expected by many around her to attend college, but at that time she had already made plans to pursue her dream of becoming a singer. In 1977, when she was still in high school, Matsubara went to Tokyo alone at the age of 17 to make her debut as a singer. The Japanese pianist Yuzuru Sera found her playing music and singing in various places in Kantō such as in the live music venue Birdland located in Roppongi, Tokyo.
Matsubara started her career in 1979 and is known from hit songs such as her debut and immediate breakthrough "Mayonaka no Door (Stay with Me)" which has been covered by numerous artists,[5][6][7][8] including Akina Nakamori.[9] The song was ranked 28th on the Oricon Chart,[10] and according to that chart sold 104,000 copies and 300,000 copies announced by Canyon records. Some of her other known songs were "Neat na gogo san-ji (ニートな午後3時)" and "The Winner" among others.
After the release of the song "Neat na gogo san-ji" Matsubara became a well-known singer during that time. She was offered by many to perform in college festivals, concerts and so on. The song even gained a feature in a commercial of the famous Japanese multinational personal care company Shiseido, only less than two years after her debut.[3]
Miki Matsubara received a number of artist awards.[1] Amidst her career, she formed her own band called Dr. Woo.[3] Matsubara also had some international work with Motown jazz fusion group Dr. Strut in Los Angeles (becoming a backing band in the album recordings for "Cupid" and "Myself"), Tokyo and Osaka (Hall concerts), later releasing a jazz cover album entitled "BLUE EYES". In that album she covered some famous jazz songs like "Love for sale", she also covered the soft rock song "You've Got A Friend" originally written and sung by Carole King.[11]
Her vocal range was that of a mezzo-soprano.
During her music career she released 8 singles, and 12 albums. Despite her work being mainly domestic, outside of Japan she was also known for her work as an anime singer and songwriter, singing the opening and ending songs to anime such as Dirty Pair: Project Eden, although recently with the popularization of city pop her other work has gained overseas fans as well.[12] While singing theme songs for the anime Gu Gu Ganmo, she performed under the name Suzie Matsubara (スージー・松原). Matsubara's song "THE WINNER" was used as the opening for the Gundam OVA-series Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory.
From the 1990's forwards she especially worked on anime soundtracks and music for commercials. Matsubara composed songs for a couple of anime, some of her most known musical compositions were for the anime series Gundam. Matsubara composed songs for several singers, like Hitomi Mieno, but her most notable works were likely with the singer and actress Mariko Kouda, whom Matsubara composed multiple songs to. Kouda's song "Ame no chi special (雨のちスペシャル)", which Matsubara composed, was featured in the five-minute music television and radio series Minna no Uta as a music video in 1997. It attracted a lot of attention and ranked 28th place in the Oricon chart. The song was repeatedly rebroadcast until 2004.
At the end of 2000, Matsubara sent an email to those around her, including her company and the members of Dr. Woo, stating that she could not continue her music career and that she would not be reachable after the message went out. She stopped all music activities and disappeared from the spotlight altogether. In 2001, it was revealed that Matsubara's actions were prompted by a late-stage cancer diagnosis she had received at the time, after which she subsequently began treatment. Matsubara spent her final years battling her illness.
After being told by her doctor that she only had three months left to live, Matsubara died on October 7, 2004, at age 44 due to complications from uterine cervix cancer. Her death was announced to the public two months later.
That's All
Miki Matsubara Lyrics
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なにを喋ってるの
窓をつたう雨 たどる指先はもうわたしを
忘れているのね
濡れたドレスにまぎれてにじむ涙
もうなにもみえない
Please turn to me, don't say good-bye
愛をみてただけ That's all...
あなたには別の行き場所があるとわかっていたのよ
わたしは
さりげなくそそぐ 半分だけのやさしさ
つらくなるだけよ
血がにじむほど 唇かんだ 愛に
紅いルージュを 塗る
Please turn to me, don't say good-bye
冷たい壁にもたれて この手に戻らない
想いに抱かれ that's all... that's all...
The lyrics to Miki Matsubara's song "That's All" express feelings of longing, pain, and resignation from a woman who still loves someone who has left her. The verse begins with a description of a blue shadow fading away in the sound of ringing in the ears. The rain streaming down the windowpane is traced by the singer's fingers, as she wonders what her departed love might be saying in the distance. The rain, like her tears, leaves her feeling lost and forgotten. The image of her weeping while wearing a wet dress suggests her vulnerability and inability to let go of her feelings.
The singer continues to articulate her emotions, expressing her understanding that her love has gone elsewhere, leaving her with only half-hearted kindness that only increases her pain. The singer turns to the metaphor of blood being drawn from her lips, as though the love she feels is a violent force. Despite feeling the pain, she continues to wear red lipstick, as if to keep the memory of her love alive. The chorus of the song begs the listener to turn back to her and not say goodbye, asking for a reconciliation that she feels will never happen. The singer accepts that she cannot control the passage of time, and the memories of her love will be all she has left.
Overall, the lyrics of "That's All" express the intense emotions of someone who is in love and cannot let go, despite knowing that their love has moved on.
Line by Line Meaning
耳鳴りのなかで 遠のいてゆく 碧い影
In the midst of ringing ears, a distant blue shadow fades away.
なにを喋ってるの
What are you talking about?
窓をつたう雨 たどる指先はもうわたしを 忘れているのね
Rain flowing down the window, my fingertips tracing it, have already forgotten about me.
濡れたドレスにまぎれてにじむ涙 もうなにもみえない
Tears seeping into my wet dress, I can't see anything anymore.
あなたを愛した日々は この手につかめない 愛をみてただけ That's all...
The days when I loved you can't be grasped in this hand. I just saw love. That's all...
あなたには別の行き場所があるとわかっていたのよ わたしは さりげなくそそぐ 半分だけのやさしさ つらくなるだけよ
I knew you had somewhere else to go. I only pour half-hearted kindness, which only makes things harder.
血がにじむほど 唇かんだ 愛に 紅いルージュを 塗る
Biting my lips until they bleed, I apply red lipstick to my love.
Please turn to me, don't say good-bye
Please look at me, don't say good-bye.
冷たい壁にもたれて この手に戻らない 想いに抱かれ that's all... that's all...
Leaning against the cold wall, my love doesn't come back to me. Embracing my feelings, that's all... that's all...
Writer(s): 佐藤健, 森田由美
Contributed by Stella E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.