Ed Sheeran Sued For ‘Ripping Off’ Marvin Gaye’s Song ‘Let’s Get It On’

Ed Sheeran is facing a lawsuit of epic proportions.

The company Structured Asset Sale is suing Sheeran for $100 million for ripping off Marvin Gaye’s song “Let’s Get it On” in his (Sheeran’s) song, “Thinking Out Loud.”

According to the lawsuit, Sheeran’s song has the same melody, rhythms, harmonies, drums, bassline, backing chorus, tempo, syncopation and looping as “Let’s Get it On.”

Gaye’s song was written by a guy named Edward Townsend and Gaye in 1973. Townsend died in 2003, and Structured Asset Sales bought one third of the copyright. So, take that in … the claim is that just 1/3 of the song is worth $100 MIL!.

Here’s “Let’s Get it On”:

And “Thinking Out Loud”:

Interestingly enough, Mockarena wrote about this a few years ago.

Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On is one of the greatest songs in the history of ever.  It’s the song that my husband and I chose for our first dance song at our wedding a decade and a half ago, because a) it’s one of the greatest songs in the history of ever and b) it’s not our style to choose an appropriate song to dance to at our own wedding.  If you know us at all, you know that appropriateness in general is not our style. 

Anyway, aside from the sentimental aspect, it’s just a fantastic song.  Which is why, when my sister first introduced me to Ed Sheeran’s music months ago, and played me the song Thinking Out Loud, I immediately thought, “HOLY CRAP this sounds a whole lot like Let’s Get It On.”

I didn’t think much of it beyond that initial “HOLY CRAP” moment, but then a month or so ago, the internet was ablaze with news of how Robin Thicke and Pharrell lost a lawsuit against the estate of Marvin Gaye for ripping off his Got To Give It Up song with their smash hit Blurred Lines.

You may have heard about that. It was kind of a huge moment in the music world, and in my opinion, kind of an awful one.  While there are similarities between the two songs, I certainly didn’t think they were lawsuit worthy.  I thought Pharrell and Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines was a wonderful tribute to that era of music, and that it was really reminiscent of Marvin Gaye’s song, but it was still a totally different song. 

Which brings me back to Ed Sheeran’s song Thinking Out Loud, and how much it sounds like Let’s Get It On.  I‘m not the only one who’s noticed this.

Guess we’ll see where this behemoth of a lawsuit goes!

h/t TMZ