My Cherie Amour – English Lyrics

• By: Stevie Wonder

Lyrics & Translation

Learning a language through music is a fantastic way to connect with a new culture, and Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour" is a perfect starting point. The song's title, a mix of English and French, immediately introduces a touch of the French language. The simple, repetitive, and heartfelt lyrics make it easy to follow along and pick up new vocabulary related to love and longing. The song's universal theme of unrequited love and its beautiful melody make it a timeless piece that is both enjoyable and educational for any language learner.

[English]

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, la, la

...

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
cherie /ʃɛˈriː/ B2	noun - darling; sweetheart (French origin)
amour /əˈmʊər/ B2	noun - love (French origin)
lovely /ˈlʌv.li/ A2	adjective - beautiful; attractive
summer /ˈsʌm.ər/ A1	noun - the warmest season of the year
distant /ˈdɪs.tənt/ B1	adjective - far away in space or time
milky /ˈmɪl.ki/ B1	adjective - resembling milk
way /weɪ/ A1	noun - a road, path, route
pretty /ˈprɪt.i/ A2	adjective - attractive in a delicate way without being truly beautiful
adore /əˈdɔːr/ B2	verb - to love deeply and respect highly
heart /hɑːrt/ A1	noun - the organ that pumps blood around the body
beat /biːt/ A2	verb - to hit repeatedly verb - to pulse rhythmically
wish /wɪʃ/ A2	verb - to want something to be true or to happen
crowded /ˈkraʊ.dɪd/ B1	adjective - full of people
street /striːt/ A1	noun - a road in a town or city with houses and buildings on one or both sides
ignore /ɪɡˈnɔːr/ B2	verb - to refuse to take notice of; disregard
smile /smaɪl/ A1	noun - a happy expression on your face verb - to make a happy expression on your face
face /feɪs/ A1	noun - the front of the head
cloud /klaʊd/ A2	noun - a white or gray mass in the sky

Key Grammar Structures

• My Cherie amour, lovely as a summer day

  ➔ Simile (as + adjective + as)

  ➔ Uses "as lovely as" to compare Cherie Amour to the pleasantness of a summer day, indicating the extent of her beauty and charm. Similes help to create a vivid image in the reader/listener's mind.

• My Cherie amour, distant as the Milky Way

  ➔ Simile (as + adjective + as) expressing distance/unattainability

  ➔ This line uses "as distant as" to emphasize that she is emotionally or physically unreachable. The vastness of the Milky Way highlights the perceived gap between the speaker and Cherie Amour.

• You're the only girl my heart beats for

  ➔ Relative Clause with a preposition at the end (for)

  ➔ The sentence is restructured to highlight the focus of the heartbeats, Cherie. It's equivalent to "You're the only girl for whom my heart beats."

• How I wish that you were mine

  ➔ Subjunctive mood expressing a wish

  ➔ The phrase "wish that you were" indicates a desire for something that is currently not true. The subjunctive mood is used here to express this unreal condition.

• I've been near you, but you never noticed me

  ➔ Present Perfect Continuous (I've been near) + Simple Past (never noticed)

  ➔ "I've been near you" implies that the speaker has been consistently close to Cherie Amour for some time. "But you never noticed me" contrasts this ongoing state with a specific past action (or rather, a lack thereof).

• won't you tell me how could you ignore

  ➔ Inversion with auxiliary verb (could) in an embedded question within a request phrased as a negative question ('won't you tell me')

  ➔ The embedded question 'how could you ignore' has inverted word order ('could you' instead of 'you could'). 'Won't you tell me...' is a polite way to make a request or ask a question. The correct word order, if it weren't a question, would be "how you could ignore".

• Maybe someday, you'll see my face among the crowd

  ➔ Future Simple with "will" (you'll see) expressing a possibility/hope in the future.

  ➔ "You'll see" indicates a belief or hope that this event will occur in the future, even if it's uncertain. "Maybe someday" emphasizes this uncertainty while still maintaining a positive outlook.