In court, Sheeran replied: “Most pop songs can fit over most pop songs … if I had done what you’re accusing me of doing, I’d be a quite an idiot to stand on a stage in front of 20,000 people and do that.” Lawyers for Townsend earlier this week showed a video of Sheeran transitioning seamlessly between Thinking Out Loud and Let’s Get it On, in a live performance they said amounted to a confession that he had ripped off the song. Thinking Out Loud went to No 1 in the UK and No 2 in the US, and won a Grammy award for song of the year in 2016. He said he had written up to eight or nine songs in a single day in the past. Sheeran told the court that he preferred to work quickly, with most of his songs written in a day, or even a matter of minutes. He then picked up a guitar from behind the witness stand, played the chord progression to the song, and sang the opening words: “When your legs don’t work like they used to.” “When I write vocal melodies, it’s like phonetics,” Sheeran said.
He said the phrase sounded like, “I’m thinking out loud”, which ultimately became the title. On the stand, he sang the phrase “I’m singing out now”, which he said he sang during his songwriting session with Wadge.
Sheeran testified for nearly an hour on Thursday, explaining how his friend and collaborator Amy Wadge started strumming the chords for the song during a visit to his home in England, and how they had collaborated on the lyrics. Townsend’s heirs are seeking a share of profits from Thinking Out Loud, saying that the syncopated chord progression was copied from Let’s Get It On. The 32-year-old is being sued by heirs of songwriter Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer on the 1973 song. “I draw inspiration from a lot from things in my life and family,” said Sheeran, saying the song was inspired by the love he observed between his grandparents.
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