Robin Thicke claims he was high on Vicodin and alcohol during the recording of “Blurred Lines,” and that Pharrell Williams is the one responsible for writing the hit single at the center of a major copyright dispute.
Mr. Thicke’s comments surfaced Monday as part of a lawsuit by the estate of Marvin Gaye, which claims the writers of “Blurred Lines” copied Gaye’s 1977 song “Got To Give It Up.”
“I was high on Vicodin and alcohol when I showed up at the studio,” Mr. Thicke said in his deposition, The Los Angeles Times reported. “So my recollection is when we made the song, I thought I wanted — I — I wanted to be more involved than I actually was by the time. Nine months later, it became a huge hit and I wanted credit. So I started kind of convincing myself that I was a little more part of it than I was and I — because I didn’t want him — I wanted some credit for this big hit. But the reality is, is that Pharrell had the beat and he wrote almost every single part of the song.”
Mr. Thicke estimated that Mr. Williams had written about 75 percent of the song when he showed up to the studio. The singer had previously told GQ that the songwriting was much more of a collaborative effort, The Times reported.
Mr. Williams said he let Mr. Thicke take more public credit because it would be good for sales.
“This is what happens every day in our industry,” he said in his own deposition. “You know, people are made to look like they have much more authorship in the situation than they actually do. So that’s where the embellishment comes in.”
Howard King, Mr. Thicke’s attorney, said in a statement that his client’s “moment of personal vulnerability is being exploited in the hope of diverting attention from the obvious weakness of their legal claim,” The Times reported.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.