![]() Perhaps the most egregious theft in the entire Beatles’ catalog is the killer guitar intro to “Revolution” (the lyrics of which happen to be reactionary trash). Later on, I learned that not only is “Lady Madonna” steeped in the style of Fats Domino, but its piano part is an extremely obvious rip-off of British jazz musician Humphrey Lyttelton’s “ Bad Penny Blues.” The Beatles cribbed different parts of Bobby Parker’s 1961 R&B single “ Watch Your Step” for two of their hit singles (“I Feel Fine,” “Day Tripper”). When I first heard the Beatles’ “Lady Madonna” as a kid, I loved it, because I had never heard anything like it. Pepper includes British music hall influences, classical Indian music, circus music, and avant-garde experimental music). But it did so in part by broadening the sources that rock music “stole” from (Sgt. I don’t think you can find more “originality” anywhere in music. Even the seemingly most original artists were often “original” in part because they were creative and eclectic thieves, taking from a diverse range of influences. I don’t think it’s even possible to create something entirely original. And since Gaye and Townsend are dead and don’t care, why shouldn’t their work be a little remixable?Īfter all, the whole history of music (and the arts more broadly) is the history of taking what came before and reworking it. Sheeran now probably regrets throwing in a little “Let’s Get It On” in concert, which is a shame, because it vastly improved his song and was a cool thing to do. It’s easy to see how that will stifle musical expression. If this lawsuit succeeds, then every musician who segues from their song into an impromptu rendition of a copyrighted song in a live show will have to fear getting slapped with a similar lawsuit. My emotional instincts are entirely with Sheeran in this case, despite my vastly greater preference for Marvin Gaye’s music. Unfortunately for Sheeran, he once mashed up “Let’s Get It On” and “Thinking Out Loud” in a concert, which Townsend’s attorneys claim is “smoking gun” evidence of plagiarism, but Sheeran says only proves that a lot of pop songs are easy to meld together. He has argued that both his song and “Let’s Get It On” use a ubiquitous chord progression, suggesting that a verdict against him would mean granting ownership rights over a basic building block of music that all musicians are entitled to use. Sheeran himself has voiced exasperation with the lawsuit, suggesting that if he loses the lawsuit he may just give up writing music altogether. ![]() Gaye’s song is sultry funk about, well, getting it on, while Sheeran’s is in a subgenre that I find it hard to describe without sounding contemptuous (I want to call it “whiny white boy acoustic heartache muzak”). You have to listen really closely to detect any “ Let’s Get It On”-ness. The two songs don’t sound very much alike at all. ![]() The jury will then have to decide whether Sheeran wrote a forbidden song using copyrighted chords.įrom one perspective, the lawsuit against Sheeran can look pretty absurd. Last week in court, Ed Sheeran brought a guitar to the witness stand to show a jury of his peers how his song “Thinking Out Loud” differs from Gaye’s steamy classic. Sheeran, it is alleged, recorded a song that sounds very slightly like “Let’s Get It On,” and should thereby pay royalties to Townsend’s estate. And yet here in 2023, pop singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran is having to defend himself in a lawsuit for violating the copyright of these two ghosts. Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the classic song “Let’s Get It On” with Gaye, has been dead for 20 years. ![]() Marvin Gaye has been dead for nearly 40 years. ![]()
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