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Gaye family discuss ‘Blurred Lines’ win

By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 12 March 2015

The Gaye family discussed the surprise ruling in their favour in the long-running ‘Blurred Lines’ copyright dispute with CBS’s Entertainment Tonight yesterday, describing the “powerful emotion” of the court win, and remarking on the similarities between Pharrell William’s other mega-hit ‘Happy’ and Marvin Gaye’s ‘Ain’t That Peculiar’. Which is fun. Next they’ll be noting how often Marvin Gaye wore a hat.

As previously reported, the Gaye family accused Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke of ripping off Gaye’s track ‘Got To Give It Up’ for their song ‘Blurred Lines’, though the resulting legal squabble confirmed that the latter hit was almost entirely written by Williams, making him the main alleged ripper offer.

And despite some strong arguments from the ‘Blurred Lines’ duo’s legal rep that the undeniable similarities between the two songs were simply common elements of pop music, rather than direct copies, the jury hearing the case sided with the Gayes earlier this week, awarding them $7.3 million of the money Williams and Thicke made from their record. And the family’s lawyers are now seeking an injunction stopping distribution of the track until a deal can be struck on future royalties.

Speaking about the moment when the jury’s decision was announced in court on Tuesday, Janis Gaye, Marvin’s ex-wife, said: “My heart started pounding but I still had faith that the verdict was going to go our way. [When it did], that’s when I lost it completely. And I was filled with incredibly powerful emotion”.

Asked about the many commentators who have said that the jury made the wrong decision, and set a dangerous precedent regarding when creative inspiration becomes copyright infringement, Nona Gaye, Marvin’s daughter, said: “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being inspired. I’ve been inspired when I made music before. Inspiration’s fine, but the line is when you decide to take the complete and utter essence out of the song. When you take all the meat, and leave the bones”.

And noting Williams’ admission that he wrote the core of ‘Blurred Lines’ in a mere hour, Janis added: “When I first heard that he had said he did it in an hour, my first thought was, ‘That’s because it was already done in 1977’. So why would it take you any longer than 20 minutes… to redo something that had already been done 40 years earlier?”

But what’s all this about ‘Happy’ sounding rather like ‘Ain’t That Peculiar’? Has that pesky Pharrell been dipping into the Gaye box of grooves a second time?

“I’m not going to lie. I do think they sound alike”, mused Nona. Lawsuit-level sound-alike though? Not now. “We’re not in that space”, she added. Yeah, given how controversial the jury’s decision was in the ‘Blurred Lines’ case, perhaps quit while you’re ahead.

Plus, of course, there’s almost certainly a nice big appeal still to come regarding the ‘Blurred Lines’ judgement. Which will a least make the lawyers Happy. Ain’t That Peculiar? No.