During his testimony in a New York court on Tuesday (4.25,) Ed Sheeran denied copying Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’ with his track ‘Thinking Out Loud.’
As part of the trial over his 2014 ballad, the British superstar singer/songwriter took to the witness stand in Manhattan Federal Court to defend the originality of his composition.
The heirs of Ed Townsend, who wrote ‘Let’s Get It On’ with Gaye, are suing Sheeran for allegedly breaching copyright law, claiming that Ed used parts of the 1973 song while writing ‘Thinking Out Loud.’
In his defense, Ed told the court “If I’d done what you’re accusing me of doing, I’d be an idiot to stand on stage in front of 20,000 people.” “It is my belief that most pop songs are built on building blocks that have been freely available for 100s of years.” Sheeran also explained that he often mashes up popular songs during his concerts because many of them share similar chord progressions.
Though he admitted hearing the Motown classic in an Austin Powers movie when he was younger, the Brit insisted that his song was not based on the 1973 track, but instead on a conversation that he and his ‘Thinking Out Loud’ co-writer Amy Wadge had about Ed’s grandparents.
At one point the 32-year-old told Townsend’s legal team at one point, “I feel like you don’t want me to answer because what I’m going to say is going to make quite a lot of sense.”
Townsend’s daughter, Kathryn Griffin Townsend, testified earlier that day and insisted she wasn’t a “copyright troll” and was simply trying “to protect my father’s legacy”. The British singer will be called back to take the stand again later in the trial.
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Author: Saul Goode
Photo: Eva Rinaldi