Ed Sheeran serenaded a New York courtroom on Thursday, playing guitar and singing a few lines of his song Thinking Out Loud as he took the witness stand in a copyright dispute over Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On.
In his attempt to convince the jury that he had not copied Gaye’s 1973 record when he made Thinking Out Loud, Sheeran launched into a display of how he writes a song. An hour into testimony, he picked up his guitar from a rack behind the witness stand and told the court that writing a song was second nature to him.
He said that he uses his own version of phonetics to write songs quickly, claiming he could write nine in a day. “I’m singing out loud,” he sang before speaking the following words “and then words fall in”.
Sheeran told the jury that the 2014 song was written at his home and Amy Wadge, who he collaborated with, had written the opening chords. The multi award-winning musician added: “I’m not the world’s most talented guitar player.” He also apologised after bumping his hand against the witness stand microphone.
He then played the opening chord progression and sang the first line of the song which had led to the court case. “When your legs don’t work like they used to,” he sang, putting the guitar back down after a few bars.
The family of Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer on Let’s Get It On, argue that Thinking Out Loud has “striking similarities” to Gaye’s 1973 song and repeatedly shares “common elements” with it. They are seeking £90 million in damages. A musicologist called by the plaintiffs on Wednesday testified that the two songs shared similarities.
Responding to a video from one of Sheeran’s performances of him transitioning between the two songs, Sheeran said it was “quite simple to weave in and out of songs” that are in the same key.
He told the court that his song had been inspired by his grandparents’ love, his grandfather’s death, and a new romantic relationship.
Last year Sheeran was cleared in a similar case where it was claimed he had plagiarised Sami Chokri’s Oh Why in making Shape of You.
The trial resumes on Monday.
Source: The Times
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