Ed Sheeran is accused of stealing some of Marvin Gaye’s “magic” in a lawsuit that had its opening arguments Tuesday in a Manhattan court. Sheeran is being sued for copyright infringement over his 2014 hit song “Thinking Out Loud,” which prosecutors claim is strikingly similar to Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” from four decades earlier. “‘Let’s Get It On’ is a song that evokes love and intimacy,” attorney Ben Crump said in his opening argument. “The evidence in this case is going to show that four decades later in 2014, the defendant Ed Sheeran recognized the magic of ‘Let’s Get It On’ and decided to capture a bit of that magic without obtaining permission.” Crump is representing heirs of the late Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the song with Gaye and produced its musical composition. He claimed that Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” copied the 1973 hit, citing Sheeran’s medley of the two songs at a 2014 concert as evidence of “how similar the defendant’s song is to ‘Let’s Get It On.’ The melody never changed, the chord progression never changed, the harmony never changed, and the harmonic compositions never changed,” Crump said.
