Rob Thicke vs. Marv Gaye: Is ‘Blurred L’ A Sound-Alike? (Poll) – Billboard

Contents:

• HOW SIAR IS ‘BLURRED L’ TO A 1977 MARV GAYE H?
• 'BLURRED L' NTROVERSY RURFAC AS MARV GAYE'S FAY CLAIMS PHARRELL MTED PERJURY
• MARV GAYE FAY PREVAILS 'BLURRED L' PLAGIARISM SE
• MARV GAYE FAY LAWYER: HOW I WON THE ‘BLURRED L’ TRIAL (GUT COLUMN)
• MARV GAYE'S FAY WS 'BLURRED L' APPEAL; PHARRELL, ROB THICKE MT PAY
• ROB THICKE VS. MARV GAYE: IS ‘BLURRED L’ A SOUND-ALIKE? (POLL)
• ‘BLURRED L’ INGED ON MARV GAYE COPYRIGHT, JURY RUL

HOW SIAR IS ‘BLURRED L’ TO A 1977 MARV GAYE H?

Will return to Los Angel feral urt on Tuday to fight claims they pied their multiplatum song om Gaye’s 1977 h “Got To Give It Up.

'BLURRED L' NTROVERSY RURFAC AS MARV GAYE'S FAY CLAIMS PHARRELL MTED PERJURY

The sger’s children Frankie and Nona Gaye rpond wh unterclaims that the micians ged “Got To Give It Up” — and that Thicke and ex-wife Pla Patton pied a send Gaye song, “After The Dance, ” -wrg Thicke’s 2011 track “Love After War. ) as well as experts on mic licensg and revenue, who will speak to the damag the Gay uld claim if they w.

MARV GAYE FAY PREVAILS 'BLURRED L' PLAGIARISM SE

In recent motns, Thicke and Williams’ attorneys threw the Gay a pyright curveball wh the argument they don’t own their father’s mercially released rerdgs — they only own the posnal elements the sheet mic “lead sheets.

MARV GAYE FAY LAWYER: HOW I WON THE ‘BLURRED L’ TRIAL (GUT COLUMN)

” (The rerdgs belong to Motown Rerds, which is owned by Universal, which turn owns Interspe — the rerd pany that released Blurred L and a fendant the Gay’ untersu. Judge John Kronstadt agreed a lg January and reaffirmed the lg followg an appeal om the Gay. His cisn enforced that the Marv Gaye rerdgs of “Got To Give It Up” and “After The Dance” uldn’t be heard urt — the attorneys are only g stripped-down stmentals.

MARV GAYE'S FAY WS 'BLURRED L' APPEAL; PHARRELL, ROB THICKE MT PAY

But more importantly, the cisn means that cidg whether gement occurred, the jury will only nsir whether “Blurred L” and “Love After War” borrow excsively om what’s the Gay’ lead sheets.

ROB THICKE VS. MARV GAYE: IS ‘BLURRED L’ A SOUND-ALIKE? (POLL)

The Gay’ attorneys argue that what’s left — the lyrics, the vol melody, the keyboard le and the bass — still remble Thicke’s songs enough to say they’re gement. On Thursday and Friday, the Gaye fay’s attorney Richard Bch lled a pair of milogists to the stand, and the urtroom beme a urse on mic theory wh their ttimoni on what they hear mon between the posns.

“Signature phrase”: Judh Fell, the Berkeley-ted head of a milogy nsultg firm, labeled one phrase per song the immediately intifiable “signature phrase”: the openg lyrics “I ed to go out to parti” Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up” and the chos opener “And that’s why I’m gon’ take a good girl” “Blurred L. Hook: Fell pared “Take a good girl” to “Keep on danc’ ” Gaye’s song.

‘BLURRED L’ INGED ON MARV GAYE COPYRIGHT, JURY RUL

The Gay’ other mil expert, Harvard profsor of Ain-Amerin mic Ingrid Monson, argued that Gaye’s bass le and s pairg wh a reggae- or ragtime-fluenced keyboard melody were highly unual Motown mic.

That means ’s hard for Thicke and Williams to claim they were fluenced by the genre general, she said, stead of the Gaye songs specifilly. Le by le, the experts pared lyrics cludg Gaye’s “move up / Turn ’round / Shake down” and Thicke’s “Shake around / Get down / Get up. The rap verse “Blurred L” begs and ends at the same pot the song as the Gaye song’s “parlando” — a lyril chantg Fell scribed as “a precursor to rap.

” The jury looked amed while Bch and Fell pared lyrics om the parlando and the rap verse, cludg pairg Gaye’s “Let me step to/ to your erotic zone” wh a le of T. “Theme X”: Fell intified a short, recurrg melodic le she labeled “theme X, ” heard Gaye’s sung lyrics “dancg lady” unr the ma vol. Miller rpond that Thicke’s vols don’t match the Gaye sheet mic, but Fell said the discrepancy is bee Thicke’s theme X match a harmony not wrten but implied the lead sheet.