About The Song
“Cherry, Cherry” is a 1966 song written, composed, and recorded by American musician Neil Diamond.
The song was recorded in February – March 1966, and was originally intended as a demo, arranged by Artie Butler and produced by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. It was issued as a 45 single in 1966 where Greenwich came up with the chorus and can be heard as the prominent background voice, accompanied by Jeff Barry. Diamond has stated that the song was inspired by an early relationship with a significantly older woman. Session guitarist Al Gorgoni (who later played on “The Sound of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel and “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison) contributed to the song. Rolling Stone would later label “Cherry, Cherry” as “one of the greatest three-chord songs of all time”.
“Cherry, Cherry” was Diamond’s first big hit, reaching No. 6 on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart, in October 1966, and the Cash Box chart. In 1973, a live recording of “Cherry, Cherry” was issued as a 45 single from Diamond’s live album Hot August Night (1972). The live version hit No. 24 on the Cash Box chart and No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Billboard said that “the live sound and the bouncing arrangement makes it almost a different song” from the original studio version.
Two versions of “Cherry, Cherry” have been released. The version familiar to most listeners was recorded in late January 1966 and released by Bang Records in mid-1966, and was recorded as a demo, with Butler on keyboards, and Barry and Greenwich on backing vocals and hand-claps. The other version, with different lyrics and originally intended to be released as the single, was finally released by Diamond and Sony Music Entertainment in 1996 on the compilation album In My Lifetime.
Video
Lyrics
Baby loves me, yes, yes she does
Ah, the girl’s outta sight, yeah
Says she loves me, yes, yes she does
Mmm, gonna show me tonight, yeah
Hey, she got the way to move me, Cherry
(She got the way to groove me)
(She got the way to move me)
Cherry, baby
(She got the way to groove me)
All right
Tell your mama, girl, I can’t stay long
We got things we gotta catch up on
Mmm, you know, you know what I’m sayin’
Can’t stand still while the music is playin’
Hey, all right
Y’ain’t got no right, no, no you don’t
Ah, to be so exciting
Won’t need bright lights, no, no we won’t
Gonna make our own lightning
Hey, she got the way to move me, Cherry
(She got the way to groove me)
Cherry, baby
(She got the way to move me) Uh huh
(She got the way to groove me)
No, we won’t tell a soul where we gone to
Girl, we do whatever we want to
Ah, I love the way that you do me
Cherry, babe, you really get to me
Hey, she got the way to move me, Cherry
(She got the way to groove me)
Cherry baby
All right
(She got the way to groove me) Cherry
(She got the way to grove me) Yeah, see