Peak
4
Weeks
14
Score
2,637
Chart Year
1969
The title is French for "My Dearest Love." Wonder wrote this song in 1967 when he was a student at Michigan School for the Blind, recording a rough version and putting into his trusty "tape box," where he kept his song ideas. He wrote the song for his girlfriend at the time, Marcia, and the song was originally titled "Oh My Marcia." By the time he recorded the song, Marcia was out of the picture, so Wonder changed the title to "My Cherie Amour." Motown songwriter/producers Henry Cosby and Sylvia Moy wrote this with Wonder, who was 19 at the time. Wonder was recording at age 12, and was writing songs in his teenage years. On his later hits, Wonder did almost all of the writing and production himself, but early on, he had a lot of help from the Motown staff. This was first released as the B-side of Wonder's single "I Don't Know Why (I Love You)" in January 1969. Many disc jockeys flipped the single and played "My Cherie Amour," so Motown reissued the single with the sides reversed. In July 1969, "My Cherie Amour," reached its US peak of #4 on the Hot 100, and in August, the song was used as the title track to Wonder's album. Stevie Wonder left quite an impression on Saturday Night Live when he was the host and musical guest on the May 7, 1983 episode. Eddie Murphy had perfected a Stevie Wonder impersonation that he often did on the show, so he and Wonder teamed up for a bit where Murphy is auditioning Stevie Wonder impersonators, and Stevie applies. Wonder makes a mess of his audition, singing way off key and out of time, so Murphy shows him how to do it, singing a few lines of "My Cherie Amour" quite competently. After a few tries in his fake voice, Wonder does it for real and the audience goes crazy. After a pause, Murphy says, "It still sucks, man." Two years later, Murphy branched out into singing and had a big hit with "Party All The Time." This song plays a part in the 2012 movie Silver Linings Playbook. Bradley Cooper's character, Pat, goes off the rails when he comes home to find his wife cheating on him while this song - their wedding song - is playing. From that point on, the song becomes a trigger for Pat, who loses his mind when he hears it. In the book the film was adapted from, it's a different song that makes Pat go crazy: "Songbird" by Kenny G.
La-la-la-la-la-la La-la-la-la-la-la My cherie amour, lovely as a summer day My cherie amour, distant as the Milky Way My cherie amour, pretty little one that I adore You're the only girl my heart beats for How I wish that you were mine In a café or sometimes on a crowded street I've been near you, but you never noticed me My cherie amour, won't you tell me how could you ignore That behind that little smile I wore How I wish that you were mine La-la-la-la-la-la La la la la la la La-la-la-la-la-la La-la-la-la-la-la Maybe someday, you'll see my face among the crowd Maybe someday, I'll share your little distant cloud Oh, cherie amour, pretty little one that I adore You're the only girl my heart beats for How I wish that you were mine La-la-la-la-la-la La-la-la-la-la-la La-la-la-la-la-la La-la-la-la
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 31, 1969 | 70 | 56 |
| 2 | Jun 7, 1969 | 60 | 66 |
| 3 | Jun 14, 1969 | 52 | 74 |
| 4 | Jun 21, 1969 | 33 | 93 |
| 5 | Jun 28, 1969 | 22 | 104 |
| 6 | Jul 5, 1969 | 16 | 110 |
| 7 | Jul 12, 1969 | 11 | 115 |
| 8 | Jul 19, 1969 | 9 | 117 |
| 9 | Jul 26, 1969 | 4 | 122 |
| 10 | Aug 2, 1969 | 4 | 122 |
| 11 | Aug 9, 1969 | 8 | 118 |
| 12 | Aug 16, 1969 | 8 | 118 |
| 13 | Aug 23, 1969 | 16 | 110 |
| 14 | Aug 30, 1969 | 21 | 105 |