Top 100 - Cherish, Madonna # 10

Story by Verity

As soon as I read about your project I had some kind of strange threeway epiphany; in that I knew straight away, exactly which song I would write about, except it was three different songs and three different stories.

All songs and stories involve being in cars with girls and singing. Two of the stories involve my sisters, the events took place about 9 years apart, and in the first story my elder sister was driving and in the second my youngest (who would have been in primary school in the first) was behind the wheel. All stories involve hip/indie/timeless/classic tracks sung by the likes of Cher, Madonna and Michelle Pfeiffer..

I am going with Madonna and Cherish.

We were in year 12 at this stage.  A_ had the Pink Torana, a pinky purple car that you had to lift the gear knob up to put into reverse and no, we never tried to take it down the coast.. I know it was year 12 'cos that morning A__ had picked me up from my little brick cottage on Limestone where I had moved out to.  We collected N__ and the O__& I__ who where still living next door to each other in Tyson street.

Madonna - Immaculate Collection was in the tape deck - just as she often was when we were at I__'s place doing homework (gossiping/dancing/drinking her poor mothers gin) or at A__'s doing homework (re-watching Titanic/eating dolmades/drinking wine/keeping her poor father up all night with our shrieking) or at mine when we were getting drunk and roller-skating up and down Limestone and pretending to smoke cigars.

In year 12 we were not as much in each other's pockets as we had been in year 11, but driving to school on that freezing winter day as the opening synth sounding ding dong notes played out we all started singing, "Cherish Cherish badabadubah..etc etc" and sang all the way down Cowper st until we arrived at college.

These girls are my truth and my joy.  Those last two years of school made up for all the crappy angsty bitchy high school shit before, and has meant that I will never be alone again.  Also being so close to them all, taught me how to grow closer to my actual sisters.

Although I__ has drifted apart a bit from A__, L__, N__ and myself, I have no doubt if we were all together it would be exactly the same.

Badabadubadah.


Artwork by Karin