神様仏様 literally means “Gods and Buddha,” combining two forms of religious address in Japan. It is an expressive way of desperately calling on every possible divine power for help.
In the song, the narrator says 神様仏様なんとかなりませんか, or “Gods and Buddha, can't you do something?” as he begs for a chance with the person he loves. The playful yet heartfelt phrase is culturally distinctive and makes the narrator's unrequited love especially memorable.
This is a high school crush song, and a very honest one. The singer spends his days watching a girl from the school building's window, thinking she's cute, and quietly panicking that soon he won't even be able to do that. He admits he has nothing to brag about, but he is always looking for her, and he is sure nobody thinks about her more than he does. The chorus is him telling himself he has to say he likes her before they stop seeing each other and before he loses the chance.
The funniest moment is when he gives up on handling it himself and prays: "神様仏様" [God, Buddha] please do something about this. Japanese often pairs those two as a catch-all "somebody up there, help." Later he lists what he knows about her: her favorite movie, food, her birthday, "全部 全部知ってるけど" [I know all of it, all of it, but]. Then comes the sting. He has no idea what she wishes for each day or who she is thinking about, which is the only part that matters to him.
back number is a Japanese rock trio formed in Gunma Prefecture in 2004 by singer and guitarist Iyori Shimizu, with Kazuya Kojima on bass and Hisashi Kurihara on drums.
The band signed to Universal Sigma and made its major-label debut in April 2011 with the single "Hanabira".