Ed Sheeran plays Van Morrison to prove he didn’t steal from Marvin Gaye in copyright trial

nme.com:

Ed Sheeran has spent another day in court in an ongoing plagiarism trial related to his 2015 single ‘Thinking Out Loud’, and played Van Morrison in the court room to further contest accusations that the song ripped off Marvin Gaye‘s ‘Let’s Get It On’.Back in 2016, the pop star was sued by Ed Townsend, one of the song’s co-writers, who alleged that Sheeran and co-writer Amy Wadge copied the rhythm of the 1973 song, as well as an ascending four-chord sequence.

It also references “striking similarities” between the two tracks that violate the copyright. Sheeran denies claims he copied Gaye’s song.Sheeran once again got out his guitar and ran through mashups between ‘Thinking Out Loud’ and several other songs by Van Morrison, Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers and Blackstreet to contest musicologist Alexander Stewart’s claims about his melodies and intentions.

He did this to show how easily one song can bleed into another based on common and incidental resemblances in chord progressions.According to the Daily Beast, Sheeran said that while writing ‘Thinking Out Loud’ the song’s producers referred to it as “the Van Morrison tune.” He added: “My voice can sound like his.”He re-iterated that he didn’t copy a single element of ‘Let’s Get It On’, nor was it present in his mind when he was writing it.Sheeran told the court that he would be “done” with the music industry if found guilty (via MailOnline).