I swear by the moon and the stars in the sky original artist

When pop artists cover country songs, few hits this side of "I Will Always Love You" are bigger than "I Swear."

The pop-leaning ballad — composed by Frank Myers and Gary Baker — was first a country hit for John Michael Montgomery, then an inescapable smash in the summer of 1994 when it was recorded by R&B stars All-4-One. Not too shabby for a tune that Myers started writing not with a guitar in his hands, but a steering wheel.

Myers told the story of "I Swear" to Bart Herbison, executive director of Nashville Songwriters Association International.

Frank, I'm gonna make a lot of songwriters mad here. It's the perfect song, and few are. ... You came to town and you were Eddie Raven's bandleader, and through that you met a character named Gary Baker. Tell us about "I Swear."

I live about three hours from Gary, and one morning he called me when I was getting ready to go down (to Muscle Shoals, Ala.) to write. He says, "I've got an idea for you to think about on the drive down. It's called 'I Swear' ... and it's like, 'I'll love you forever.' I just think it's a good title." I said, "Let me think about it on the drive down." So I did, and I actually wrote the chorus, music and words, driving down to his house.

I got to thinking, "I swear what" you know? "I swear on my life? By the moon and the stars?" I just kept thinking of all these things and put the lyric together, and the music came with it. I put it down on this little recorder. We were writing with Robert Byrne that day, God rest his soul. We went to Robert's house and wrote a song, and Robert made us some barbecue chicken and we ate. It was about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and we were driving back to Fame (Studios in Muscle Shoals) because I left my car there. I said, "I wrote a chorus to that title you gave me this morning." Robert's not there. He didn't want to work any more. So we got back to Fame, and we sat in (songwriter/producer) Walt Aldridge's office and wrote the verses.

... Everybody in town passed on it. But it was more of a pop-sounding demo. Then I personally pitched it to John Michael (Montgomery) three times. He said, "I like this song a lot. It's a little pop. I'm not sure it's better than what we have," and that was his comment, and that was on a houseboat up in Kentucky with him and his mom and dad, and Eddie (Montgomery) and Troy (Gentry) before they even became Montgomery Gentry.

But he changed his mind, and he did it. What happens next is nothing short of incredible. It won all of these awards, and then this never happens — All-4-One, they're on fire, and they cut it.

The story behind that is Doug Morris, who ran Atlantic at the time up there, he asked Rick Blackburn, who was running Atlantic Records at the time here, if he would try to crossover "I Swear" with John Michael. Rick said, "No, I don't want to make country radio mad." He says, "Well, OK, then we just signed a deal with David Foster to do some production things. He did a label with us, and we have this new group called All-4-One." They had their first single out. It was a hip-hop kind of thing that they had out, "So Much In Love." Morris asked, "Do you mind if David cuts a track on these guys?" They said, "No, go ahead."

The craziest thing: We didn't know anything about that. So one day Gary and I are writing up here in Nashville, and I get a call from (A&R executive) Al Cooley. He says, "Hey man, is Gary with you by any chance?" I said, "Yeah, we're actually writing today." He says, "Well, come across the street. I want to play you something."

So we walk into Al's office and sit down, and the next thing I know here comes Rick Blackburn. They played it, and it started out, and I actually thought it was a joke at first, until we got into it, and thought "Wow, this is cool." ... Rick goes, "Yes, it is going to be a pop single. Yes, David Foster produced it. Yes, it's going to be a No. 1 record, and yes, it's going to win a Grammy." Very prophetic.

— Compiled by Dave Paulson,

About the series

In partnership with Nashville Songwriters Association International, each week we will release a new video featuring NSAI executive director Bart Herbison interviewing a Nashville songwriter about his or her work.

What is art, and what purpose as well as function does it serve for people? For me. Art confirms the best aspects of humanity. Aspects such as: faith, love, beauty, and even suffering. Art is a spiritual awakening. A metaphysical encounter attempting to explain and make sense of the world. I want to illustrate this encounter. An encounter where we all depend on one another, where my paintings mirror all life’s purpose. My life has not always been easy, and I have experiencend many of the hardships and challenges life can throw at you, all of which I try to mirror with art. The purpose is to share these experiences in both time and space and in return, invite the audience to share their experiences with mine. Thus creating a bridge between us through my art. Born 1975. Lives and works in Helsingborg and Stockholm. Has worked with artistic creation since childhood. Painting, film and writing have always been a part of my life. In recent years, my interest in painting has taken over and become something of a must in my life. Mostly, I use oil but I love to experiment with new techniques and materials. All the paintings are unique and they vary from abstract to realistic subjects. I take my inspiration from writers, artists and filmmakers like Dante Alighieri, Tomas Tranströmer, Francis Bacon, Vilhelm Hammershøi, Vittorio De Sica and Ingmar Bergman. I want to interpret and communicate a specific feeling in my art which is influenced by my background in film, my writing and my studies in the subject of history, a mixture that is reflected in my art. I want the onlooker to ask questions about the art such as what happened before or after? Why is the character positioned that way? What is the person thinking about and why are they in that situation? Exhibits include Autoconstruction Berlin (2016), The Other Art Fair London (2017), Spring Art - Solo exhibition Helsingborg (2017), Biennale Florence (2017), The Other Art Fair Brooklyn 2018). Artist of the day Saatchi Art, Artist featured in a collection Saatchi Art.

Artist Recognition

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Handpicked to show at The Other Art Fair presented by Saatchi Art in London, New York

Artist featured by Saatchi Art in a collection

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