Robin Thicke Ripped Off Marvin Gaye With ‘Blurred Lines’? Thicke Does Song And Dance In Court
Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams, and Clifford Harris Jr. (aka T.I.) are currently involved in a copyright case against Marvin Gaye’s family over Thicke’s hit song “Blurred Lines” and it’s similarities with Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up.” On February 25, Robin Thicke was questioned on the witness stand and he decided to use an unusual way to make his case: he took to the stand with a keyboard and played some songs.
Thicke played and sang a medley of U2’s “With or without You”, Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry”, and Michael Jackson’s “Man In The Mirror” to illustrate his point that a lot of songs in popular music share some elements, melodies, and chord progressions.
Thicke told the jury that despite interviews with him taking credit for the song, he was actually not present when it was written. He admitted that by falsely claiming responsibility for the song, he was “living in revisionist history for my own benefit.”
Robin Thicke hates those Blurred Lines. Apparently Marvin Gaye’s family do too: http://t.co/caq9KvYnTB pic.twitter.com/pfry8FIpcy
— British GQ (@BritishGQ) February 25, 2015
Richard Busch, the Gaye family attorney, showed Thicke the sheet music for “Got to Give It Up”. The singer admitted that he didn’t understand the sheet music, saying, “(the sheet music) looks like algebra to me.”
“They share some of the same notes—and I know that by ear,” Thicke said, adding that the two songs only share the same chord. The trial is expected to last for eight days, with a jury eventually deciding whether or not Thicke and company used Gaye’s material without credit.
Thicke’s legal troubles began in August of 2013 when Gaye’s estate alleged that there were similarities between the two songs. However, Thicke, Williams, and Harris, filed a pre-emptive suit against the estate essentially telling them to stop with their claims.
In an interview with Vulture, Questlove defended “Blurred Lines” saying, “Look, technically it’s not plagiarized. It’s not the same chord progression. It’s a feeling. Because there’s a cowbell in it and a Fender Rhodes as the main instrumentation — that still doesn’t make it plagiarized. We all know it’s derivative. That’s how Pharrell works. Everything that Pharrell produces is derivative of another song — but it’s a homage.”
In September 2014, the deposition given by Thicke was released to the public. In it, he says that he was drunk and high on Vicodin when he told interviewers that he was responsible for the song. “I was high on Vicodin and alcohol when I showed up at the studio. So my recollection is when we made the song, I thought I wanted… to be more involved than I actually was by the time. Nine months later, it became a huge hit and I wanted credit,” Thicke said.
Compare Marvin Gaye and Robin Thicke. Did Thicke rip off Gaye?
[Image via YouTube]
