Akina Nakamori -- Mizu ni Sashita Hana （水に挿した花）

On first hearing this haunting ballad, "Mizu ni Sashita Hana" (Flowers Arranged in the Water) by Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）, I thought this was more back to form for the singer with Natsumi Tadano's（只野菜摘）lyrics about a damaged angel (of death?) offering to take a troubled lady back to happier times. And the melancholy melody by singer-songwriter Junko Hirotani（広谷順子）sounded like a dark lullaby.

"Mizu ni Sashita Hana" is Akina's 25th single from November 1990. It's never going to be one of my favourite singles by her, but after all the turmoil that the singer had been through in the last several months and the sadness of her songs in the last year or so, this particular ballad sounded more genuine coming from her than her previous comeback single of "Dear Friend"/"Caribbean" in July of that year. The two songs, though fun, always struck me as being forced cheeriness from her and that has never been part of Akina's makeup in my opinion. "Mizu ni Sashita Hana" just seems to have a certain fragile beauty that resembles that of the singer at that time (and probably even now).

The song was used as the ending theme for the Wednesday night drama of the week on NTV. It hit the top spot on Oricon and became the 92nd-ranked single of the year and was even bumped up to No. 76 for the same rankings the following year. It has also been placed as a track on her "BEST III" from November 1992.