Cherish is the word I use to describe
All the feeling that I have hiding here for you inside
You don't know how many times I've wished that I had told you
You don't know how many times I've wished that I could hold you
You don't know how many times I've wished that I could
Mold you into someone who could
Cherish me as much as I cherish you

Perish is the word that more than applies
To the hope in my heart each time I realize
That I am not gonna be the one to share your dreams
That I am not gonna be the one to share your schemes
That I am not gonna be the one to share
What seems to be the life that you could
Cherish as much as I do yours

Oh, I'm beginning to think that man has never found
The words that could make you want me
That have the right amount of letters, just the right sound
That could make you hear, make you see
That you are drivin' me out of my mind

Oh, I could say I need you but then you'd realize
That I want you just like a thousand other guys
Who'd say they loved you With all the rest of their lies
When all they wanted was to touch your face, your hands
And gaze into your eyes

Cherish is the word I use to describe
All the feeling that I have hiding here for you inside
You don't know how many times I've wished that I had told you
You don't know how many times I've wished that I could hold you
You don't know how many times I've wished that I could
Mold you into someone who could
Cherish me as much as I cherish you

And I do cherish you
And I do cherish you
Cherish is the word


Lyrics submitted by democracys

Cherish Lyrics as written by Terry Kirkman

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Cherish song meanings
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12 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    This is a song about a guy who, for some reason, is afraid to reveal his feelings to his love interest. No where in this song do we actually learn why he is afraid, but it doesn't matter. It's a song that many people can relate to, because many of us have experienced feelings that we could not reveal to the object of those feelings.

    wild_thaingon April 02, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    this song is kinda bittersweet, sweet how he loves her, bitter how its just not there for her

    angeleyes07on April 01, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Wow, I am just stunned how only a small amount of people knows this song... Terribly underrated... This song, and Never My Love are my favorites from The Association. Look at those lines rhyme! Just priceless...

    mentallyon March 01, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This is one of my all time favorites, a song of heartache and insecurity... but I believe Terry Kirkman said in a concert once that he had written this song for the woman who later became his wife. Much like Elton's "Your Song" (written later), it's about a guy who can't say it to her directly, so he says what he wants to say in a beautiful song. And what woman can resist that?

    jadesfire001on July 04, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Sometimes it's the right girl, wrong time. That happened to me and it seems also to TK. Sometimes you gotta move on and the situation will improve down the line.

    49ersphilon September 30, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Always LOVED this song!!!

    I always thought the line:

    Who'd say they loved you with all the rest of their lies

    was actually:

    Who say they'd love you for the rest of their lives

    not sure which is correct

    tsreybon January 16, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I woke up yesterday with this song in my head. Funny... This has been happening a lot lately. Or maybe I'm just more aware...

    At first I thought it was a song about unrequited love... but now I have another perspective. One cannot truly love or "cherish" another while at the same time wishing to "mould" them into someone else. True love is unconditional and free... There is no "holding" or ownership.

    Skye Phoenixon July 10, 2016   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Or... it could be that he's hiding his true feelings for the girl... because he loves her on a deeper level. She wouldn't understand ... because she's not there yet. She doesn't believe that she's worthy of a love like this... Or even if it's "real." Her beliefs about love and her experiences have been more shallow, or conditional.

    Skye Phoenixon July 10, 2016   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i once loved a girl and so i thought she loved me too

    but it was only in my mind she cared for me deeply but love? -- not in the way i loved her

    i went thru life trying to make her love me i saw my love for her as one that no other man could duplicate.

    but she didn't love me in the same way i loved (and truly cherished) her

    twelve years have come twelve years have gone no other man has loved and cherished her as i

    she's still single i'm still single too.
    we both go through life as two people single.

    nothing's changed i cherish her she cherishes me

    all life long still the same

    cherish is the word.

    kenn17on August 12, 2017   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I have always found this song to be heartbreaking yet beautiful. He loves her and it seems he has for sometime. He never told her and she most likely had no clue how he felt or still does. The word cherish is a beautiful descriptor in the case of this love song. He cherishes not only her but he cherishes the though that she may one day cherish him.

    Posessionon January 30, 2019   Link

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