Cherish

About Cherish

"Cherish" is a pop song written by Terry Kirkman and recorded by The Association. Released in 1966, the song reached number one on the U. S. Billboard Hot 100 in September of that year and remained in the top position for three weeks. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 2 song of 1966. In Canada, the song also reached number one. Session musician Doug Rhodes, also member of The Music Machine, played the celesta on the recording. Studio player Ben Benay played guitar on the recording. Curt Boettcher added some vocals, most notably the high-pitched "told you" and "hold you" on the final verse. The track was recorded at a converted garage studio owned by Gary S. Paxton, who engineered the sessions along with Pete Romano. The single release of the song was slightly edited by removing one of the two "And I do cherish you" lines near the end of the song. This edit was done as a means of keeping the track from exceeding the three-minute mark, as radio programmers of the era frowned upon songs that went beyond three minutes. However, even with the edit, the song still ran over. Instead of editing further, producer Curt Boettcher intentionally listed "3:00" on the label as the song's running time. more »