As he did last week, Ed Sheeran gave the jury at his copyright trial a mini concert in a New York City courtroom Monday.
Sheeran picked up his guitar, and performed a mash-up of his songs and Marvin Gaye’s songs, as he tried to demonstrate how common the four-chord progression is for his hit “Thinking Out Loud.” He’s been accused of copying Marvin Gaye’s classic “Let’s Get It On” by the family of that song’s late co-writer, Ed Townsend.
“Did you copy anything from ‘Let’s Get It On’ when you wrote ‘Thinking Out Loud?'” defense attorney Ilene Farkas asked. “No,” Sheeran replied.
“Were you thinking about ‘Let’s Get it On?’” Farkas asked. “No,” Sheeran answered.
He also testified that his producers started calling “Thinking Out Loud” his “Van Morrison tune,” because of the similarities and influence the rock legend provided.
Sheeran has long described Van Morrison as one of his main influences, and even name-checked him in his global smash “Shape of You.”
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