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After reading Rocket Brown's article on Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）beautifully delivered but cautionary tale of seeking fame and fortune in Hollywood, "Natalie", I discovered that any signs of the original song on YouTube had been excised more thoroughly than Natalie's happiness and hope (but take a look at that article...all is not lost). 😒
However, in my search on YouTube, I did find a cover version of "Natalie" by the veteran band Sentimental City Romance（センチメンタル・シティ・ロマンス）. Now, the cordial relationship between Takeuchi and SCR has been around since Mariya's first album in 1978, "Beginning", when the band contributed to some of the tracks there. And I think there has been an affinity between the two in terms of their choice of music since both she and Sentimental City Romance have enjoyed playing and singing in the country genre. In fact, SCR vocalist Nobutaka Tsugei（告井延隆）arranged the original "Natalie" when it came out in 1981.
So I gather that it was a natural for SCR to cover the song itself many years later through the band's August 2011 album "Yattokame"（やっとかめ）. There hasn't been a dramatic change in arrangement. It's still the most laidback country and pop ballad and Mariya herself is helping out on background vocals. And indeed, it's still a lovely song about a tragic tale.
If there were a Weird Al Yankovic type in Japan, I would recommend him to give his take on "Natalie"...about a good person gone bad. However, I would also re-title it into "Anakin".
I did see the SCR version. It's pretty good, but It makes me wish they had recorded it in their prime. Sentimental City Romance was a surprisingly great country rock band. I was lucky enough to get a copy of their Best of Album "Nagoya Kani Nagoya Kani"(なごやかに なごやかに).
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