Cherish (Madonna Song) - Live Performance and Covers

Live Performance and Covers

Madonna has performed "Cherish" live only during one tour, on her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour. Onstage, the performance mirrored the sequence from the music video, with the appearance of three of Madonna's dancers, dressed as mermen. Author Carol Clerk noted in her book Madonnastyle that the outfit worn by the singer during this sequence was the simplest and the softest costume of the show. It consisted of a black mini-dress trimmed and stitched with a stuffed West African stork, called the marabou. Madonna gyrated around her dancers, while playing with a harp. During the chorus, the dancers lifted their prosthetic fish-tails and joined them with each other. Guilbert felt that the performance de-sexualizes men, since they are relegated to objects of adoration, like the three mermen dancers. This view was shared by Mark Bego, author of Madonna: Blonde Ambition, who said that "Madonna and her girls go into a very girlish mode, but they give the feeling that they are in charge, be it playing with the mermen, or teasing them." Two different performances were taped and released on video, the Blond Ambition – Japan Tour 90, taped in Yokohama, Japan, on April 27, 1990, and the Live! – Blond Ambition World Tour 90, taped in Nice, France, on August 5, 1990.

The late Brazilian singer Renato Russo included an acoustic cover of the song on his 1994 album The Stonewall Celebration Concert. His version was appreciated by Alvaro Neder of Allmusic. The 2000 compilation album Virgin Voices: A Tribute To Madonna, Vol. 2 contains a cover by worldbeat group Loop Guru. An alternative rock cover of the song by The Prayers was included on the 2007 Madonna tribute compilation Through the Wilderness.