TORONTO — John Beckwith isn’t grinding up against Miley Cyrus at the MTV Video Music Awards or appearing with topless models in a music video, but the 86-year-old Canadian musician has something in common with Robin Thicke.
Beckwith composed a piece of classical music entitled “Blurred Lines” more than 15 years ago — and it’s getting an accidental boost thanks to Thicke’s ubiquitous hit of the same name.
“I have not heard Thicke’s song,” Beckwith told Global News. “I understand the lyrics are bawdy.”
The composer is delighted by the “bizarre coincidence” that Thicke’s song title is the same as the one he registered in 1997.
“If it has led some listeners to download my work, I’m of course very glad,” he said.
Allegra Young of Centrediscs, which released Beckwith’s composition, said “Blurred Lines” was typically streamed fewer than 100 times a month but recently had over 4,000.
“We’ll probably see an uptick in royalties,” she said. “Not a lot.”
Still, it’s unlikely Beckwith will steal fans away from Thicke.
His “Blurred Lines,” performed by his son Lawrence Beckwith on violin and Vivienne Spiteri on harpsichord, is “very different,” said Young.
“It’s a bit adventurous for some listeners.”
A native of Victoria, Beckwith studied piano at the Toronto Conservatory of Music in 1945 and earned a Bachelor of Music in 1947 from the University of Toronto. After studying for a year in Paris, he returned to Canada and started teaching at the University of Toronto, where he also received his Master of Music degree and founded the Institute for Canadian Music.
Beckwith retired in 1990.
Ironically, his memoir is called Unheard Of.
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