Background
"Cherish" was written and produced by Madonna and Patrick Leonard, and released as the third single from Like a Prayer (1989). The song is built around the themes of love and relationships, with William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet one of its major inspirations. Madonna was reading Romeo and Juliet during the breaks during rehearsals for Speed the Plow, a Broadway show in which she was starring in 1988. On the third day of the Like a Prayer recording sessions, she presented Leonard with the lyrics of "Cherish", and explained that she had written the song "one sunny afternoon by the beach", but later confessed that it was actually written in her make-up room. Leonard introduced one line from the similar titled song by the 1960s band The Association, "Cherish is the word I use", after which Madonna decided to include it on Like a Prayer. The Association was one of her favorite Motown bands. The B-side of the single release of "Cherish" was a previously unreleased track called "Supernatural", composed during the recording sessions of her third studio album, True Blue (1986). In 2009, during an interview with Rolling Stone, Madonna confessed that she had never been able to predict if her songs would be successful, irrespective of her personal opinion of them. As an example, she cited "Cherish" as one of the most "retarded" songs she had written, but noted it became a commercial success. The song was also included on the 1990 compilation album The Immaculate Collection and the two-disc edition of her 2009 compilation Celebration.
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