NEW YORK — Ed Sheeran took the witness stand in a New York courtroom Tuesday to deny allegations that his hit song “Thinking Out Loud” ripped off Marvin Gaye's soul classic “Let's Get It On.”
Sheeran, 32, was called to testify in the civil trial by the heirs of Ed Townsend, Gaye's co-writer on the 1973 soul classic. The family has accused the English star of violating their copyright, claiming his 2014 hit bore “striking similarities” and “overt common elements” to the famed Gaye track. The lawsuit was originally filed in 2017.
Sheeran, in a dark suit and tie and his trademark ginger locks, was adamant that he had come up with the song himself, sparring at times with the plaintiff's attorney, Keisha Rice, on the subject of “independent creation.”
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In response to video played in the courtroom, which showed the musician segueing onstage between the two songs, Sheeran noted it was very common for musicians to weave other artists' songs into their live shows.
“I’d be an idiot to stand on a stage in front of 20,000 people and do that,” Sheeran said about the accusation that he copied songs.
Earlier in the day, a lawyer for Townsend's heirs, Ben Crump, had told jurors that the merging of the two songs was tantamount to “a confession.”
“We have a smoking gun,” he said of the concert footage showing Sheeran flipping between the two songs. Crump added that the case was about “giving credit where credit is due.”
Sheeran looked on as his lawyer, Ilene Farkas, insisted that Sheeran and a co-writer, Amy Wadge, wrote their song independently and did not steal from Townsend and Gaye.
She said they “created this heartfelt song without copying ‘Let’s Get It On.'”
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Jury selection begins in Ed Sheeran copyright trial
Jury selection for the trial, which is expected to last up to two weeks in the Manhattan federal courtroom of 95-year-old Judge Louis L. Stanton, began Monday.
While the jury will hear the recordings of both songs, probably many times, their lyrics — and vibes — are legally insignificant. Jurors are supposed to only consider the raw elements of melody, harmony and rhythm that make up the composition of "Let's Get It On," as documented on sheet music filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
"Let's Get It On" is the quintessential, sexy slow jam that's been heard in countless films and commercials and garnered hundreds of millions of streams, spins and radio plays over the past 50 years. "Thinking Out Loud," which won a Grammy for song of the year, is a much more marital take on love and sex.
Sheeran's attorneys have said the songs' undeniable structural symmetry points only to the foundations of popular music.
"The two songs share versions of a similar and unprotectable chord progression that was freely available to all songwriters," they said in a court filing.
Townsend family attorneys pointed out in the lawsuit that artists including Boyz II Men have performed seamless mashups of the two songs, and that even Sheeran himself has segued into "Let's Get It On" during live performances of "Thinking Out Loud."
