"I Swear" is a song written by Gary Baker and Frank J. Myers that became a hit for American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist

John Michael Montgomery John Michael Montgomery (born January 20, 1965) is an American country music singer. Active from 1992 to 2025, he has had more than 30 singles on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' country charts. This total includes seven number-one singles ...

in 1993, and for American R&B group

All-4-One All-4-One is an American male R&B and pop group best known for their hit singles " I Swear", " So Much in Love" and " I Can Love You Like That". The group is composed of Jamie Jones, Delious Kennedy, Alfred Nevarez, and Tony Borowiak, all fro ...

in 1994. Released in November 1993, by Atlantic Nashville as the lead single from his second album, '' Kickin' It Up'' (1994), and accompanied by a music video directed by Marc Ball, Montgomery's version spent four weeks at number-one on the US

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart, later crossing over to pop radio and reaching number 42 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in March. The cover by All-4-One was subsequently released in April 1994, becoming a number-one hit in numerous countries, and later garnering a spot in ''Billboards ranking of All-Time Top 100 Songs.

Content

The song is a

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

in which the narrator promises his significant other that he will always love her.

Track listings

* CD maxi—United States (1993) # "I Swear" – 4:23 # "Line on Love" – 2:37 # "Dream on Texas Ladies" – 3:08 # "Friday at Five" – 2:41

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

All-4-One version

Following the release of Montgomery's version, American male R&B pop group

recorded a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of "I Swear" with record producer

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian record producer, composer, arranger, and musician. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His career began as a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark in the early 1970s befor ...

for the group's eponymous 1994 debut album. The cover includes a lyric change: the original line from the second verse "''And when there's silver in your hair''" was replaced by "''And when just the two of us are there''". Released on April 22, 1994, by Blitzz and

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

, All-4-One's version reached number one on numerous music charts, including the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

, where it remained for 11 consecutive weeks. The recording later ranked number 98 on ''Billboard''s list of All-Time Top 100 Songs. In the United Kingdom, the All-4-One recording spent a total of 18 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number two for seven consecutive weeks, unable to dislodge

Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet are a Scottish soft rock band formed in 1982. They scored a number of hits on the UK charts and around the world in the 1980s and 1990s. They are best known for their 1994 cover of the Troggs' 1960s hit " Love Is All Around", which ...

's "

Love Is All Around "Love Is All Around" is a song recorded by English rock band the Troggs. Released as a single in October 1967, it was a top-ten hit in both the UK and US. "Love Is All Around" has been covered by numerous artists, including R.E.M., with w ...

" from number one. Its accompanying music video was directed by

Marcus Nispel Marcus Nispel (born 26 May 1963) is a German film director and Film producer, producer, best known for several high-profile American remakes such as ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003 film), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' (2003). He has also di ...

. The band won the

Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals The Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals was awarded between 1966 and 2011 (in its final year, it was awarded for recordings issued in 2010). The award had several minor name changes: *From 1966 to 1967, the award ...

for their version of the song.

Background and composition

After their first album had finished going through the mastering process of recording,

Doug Morris Doug Morris (born November 23, 1938) is an American record executive. He was chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Universal Music Group from 1995 to 2011, as well as Sony Music Entertainment from 2011 to 2017. He is the founder and CEO ...

, president of Atlantic Records called the group for a meeting. He showed them the original "I Swear" country record, asking All-4-One to do a cover of it promising to bring David Foster in for production. Singer Jamie Jones of the group was most hesitant about releasing the song due to the genre crossover. The group finished the recording at Foster's Malibu home studio.

Critical reception

American ''

'' magazine named the song a "memorable anthem

". ''Billboard'' editor

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the musi ...

wrote, "Follow-up to the gold-selling ' So Much in Love' once again spotlights this male quartet's seamless harmonies. Producer

supplies soft and pillowy synths, a caressing sax solo, and an overall splash of drama, which complements the unabashed romance of this hit-bound ballad. As teens enter

prom A promenade dance or prom is a formal dance party for graduating high school students at the end of the school year. Students participating in the prom will typically vote for a ''prom king'' and ''prom queen''. Other students may be honored ...

season, expect this song to be the peak tune of the evening. Ahhh, young love ..." M.R. Martinez from ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' named it Pick of the Week, complimenting it as a single "complete with shimmering vocals, swooning pop arrangements, and throttled (yet soulful) vocals". Dave Sholin from the ''

Gavin Report The ''Gavin Report'' was a San Francisco-based radio industry trade publication. The publication was founded by radio performer Bill Gavin in 1958. Its Top 40 listings were used for many years by programmers to decide content of programs. The ...

'' complimented the producer that "polishes it up just right for pop audiences who, like their country counterparts, will soak in the lyrics." He added, "Those contemplating matrimony will no doubt have this played while they're walking down the aisle, and those who've already tied the knot might want to renew their vows just so they can make 'I Swear' part of the ceremony." Chuck Campbell from ''

Knoxville News Sentinel The ''Knoxville News Sentinel'', also known as ''Knox News'', is a daily newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, owned by the Gannett Company. History The newspaper was formed in 1926 from the merger of two competing newspapers: '' ...

'' noted its "more modern (i.e. more syrupy)" take. In his weekly UK chart commentary,

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a British music critic and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worke ...

wrote, "Labelled by many as this year's ' End of the Road' you can see what all the hype is about. Four American teenagers singing in barber's shop harmonies makes for a gorgeous record. Whether it emulates its American success remains to be seen but Top 10 success is almost assured." Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...

'' commented, "Since Whitney

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of ...

Dolly,

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

is hip in the R&B milieu. Now the vocal harmony quartet halfway between

Shai Shai (also spelt Sai, occasionally Shay, and in Greek, Psais) was the deification of the concept of fate in Egyptian mythology. As a concept, with no particular reason for associating one gender over another, Shai was sometimes considered femal ...

and

Boyz II Men Boyz II Men ( ) is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. Formed in 1985, they have been a trio composed of baritone Nathan Morris, tenor Wanya Morris, Wanyá Mo ...

polishes

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

number 1 hit." Alan Jones from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' gave it a score of four out of five, naming it a "pretty and powerful ballad", "

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

should be big". Pete Stanton from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'' wrote, "'I Swear' was a peach: lovely sentiment which guaranteed you a slow dance down the disco."

Music video

A music video was produced to promote the single, directed by German director

and filmed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Marc Reshovsky directed photography and Anouk Frankel produced it with supervising producer Ellison Miller. The video has a sepia tone and portrays the members of All-4-One hanging out on a rooftop singing interspersed with scenes with a young woman walking on the sidewalk below. They spots her from the rooftop and go down to talk and walk with the woman as they implore her not to leave. Ultimately, she says goodbye to each member before boarding a departing bus. The video was nominated for Best New Artist Clip of the Year in the category for Pop/AC at the 1994 ''

'' Music Video Awards. "I Swear" was later made available on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

in 2020, having generated more than 19 million views as of May 2025.

Other All-4-One versions

All-4-One and John Michael Montgomery recorded an updated duet version of "I Swear" for the deluxe edition of All-4-One's 2015 album ''

Twenty+ This is the discography of American R&B group All-4-One All-4-One is an American male R&B and pop group best known for their hit singles " I Swear", " So Much in Love" and " I Can Love You Like That". The group is composed of Jamie Jones, D ...

''. A music video for this duet version was released on May 9, 2016. In 2021, All-4-One recorded a remix of "I Swear" for a music video promoting

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

All-Access, titled "It's All There". A clip of the All-4-One has also been used in Gain laundry detergent TV ads in the US since 2021.

Track listings

* 7-inch single # "I Swear" (radio edit) – 3:43 # "I Swear" (radio remix) – 4:19 * CD single # "I Swear" (radio edit) – 3:43 # "I Swear" (radio remix) – 4:19 * CD maxi # "I Swear" (radio edit) – 3:43 # "I Swear" (radio mix) – 4:18 # "I Swear" (radio remix) – 4:18 # "I Swear" (album version) – 4:18

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Release history

Other versions

In 1996 Canto/Mando Pop Goddess Sandy Lam covered the song with 4 of her friends Chiyi, Teresa Carpio and Prudence Lau on her all English cover album entitled "I Swear". The final eleven contestants from '' Popstars: Girls forever'', ninth season of TV talent show ''

POPSTARS ''Popstars'' is an international reality television franchise aimed to find new singing talent. Serving as a precursor to the ''Idol'' franchise, '' Popstars'' first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the girl gr ...

'' in Germany, they released a cover version of the song with Gary Baker on November 19, 2010. The finalists premiered the song live on the November 18 edition of the program; the single was available for digital download on November 16, 2010, and a physical release followed the day after the live performance of the song. The song was recorded at Noiseblock Studios in

Florence, Alabama Florence is a city in, and the county seat of, Lauderdale County, Alabama, Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States, in the state's northwestern corner, and had a population of 40,184 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Florence is l ...

. The cover reached number 69 on the

German Singles Chart The GfK Entertainment charts are the official charts for music, home video, and video games in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on be ...

. The Brazilian version of the song ''I Swear'', titled ''Eu Juro'', was performed by the popular sertanejo duo

Leandro & Leonardo Leandro e Leonardo were a Brazilian '' sertanejo'' duo. The two brothers (third and fourth of eight siblings), Leandro (born Luiz José da Costa, August 15, 1961–June 23, 1998) and Leonardo (born Emival Eterno da Costa, born July 25, 1963), were ...

. Released in 1995 as part of their album '' Leandro & Leonardo Vol. 10'', the song adapted the romantic theme of the original into Portuguese, maintaining its heartfelt message. ''Eu Juro'' became a hit in Brazil, resonating with fans of the duo and contributing to the success of their album. The adaptation preserved the essence of the original, while adding a distinctly Brazilian flair typical of the sertanejo genre. Filipino boyband group, Quamo did a cover of this song in Filipino entitled ''Sumpa Ko'' from the movie, "Pustahan Tayo, Mahal Mo Ako". The Minions perform an emotional version of the song during Gru's wedding in ''Despicable Me 2''. Rock band Smokie also featured a version on their 2000 album ''Uncovered''.

References

External links