Ed Sheeran is being sued again for his hit, “Thinking out Loud.” Last year, co-writer of Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get it On sued Sheeran. Now it’s a music firm that owns part of the copyright, Structured Assets. They want $100 million. Gaye’s heirs, who won a $5 million case against Robin Thicke for “Blurred Lines,” haven’t filed yet. But they will.
Sheeran loves to nick pieces of other songs for his hits. His big hit, “Perfect,” sounds so much like the Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody,” that YouTubers have mixed videos for it. Alex North and Hy Zaret wrote the song in 1955, and it was covered by several artists. But the Righteous Brothers had the biggest hit in the 60s. Their version was rediscovered for the movie “Ghost” in 1989.
Hy Zaret, who wrote the lyrics, died in 2007 but presumably his estate has a lawyer. PS The song is called “Unchained Melody” because it was written for a movie called “Unchained.” Zaret never used that word, but the song became the melody from “Unchained.”
As for “Let’s Get it On,” poor Marvin Gaye. I used to hear “Thinking Out Loud” on the radio and say, “Damn, that sounds just like Let’s Get It On.” Just like Blurred Lines” sounds just like “Got to Give it Up.” Sheeran may have to sell one of his tattoos to pay for this mess.
