Sad.
(Moderator, please remove this if the photo is too gross.)
Posted on 04/28/2011 9:41:37 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Just when you think the world can’t get any more crazy, it pulls over to a siding and hooks another car on the Crazy Train. This past Sunday, police in Britain actually arrested a keytarist named Simon Ledger for singing Carl Douglas’ “Kung Fu Fighting”.
Now, I know what you may be thinking. If you put together a list of songs that, in a perfect world, could get a person arrested, that one would be right up there, along with Rupert Holmes’ “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)”. Surely in such a beautiful utopia, the use of a keytar in performance of that tune would be the aggravating curcimstances that would be punishable by 40 hours of “Roseanne Barr and Barney the Dinosaur — Together At Last”. I’m right there with you.
However, that’s not why Ledger ran afoul of British law. His offense was far more 21st Century. He went to jail because someone thought he was making fun of Chinese people.
The song, performed by Simon Ledger, 34, is said to have offended two Chinese people as they walked past the bar where he was singing.
The entertainer regularly performs the 1974 number one hit, originally by disco star Carl Douglas, at the Driftwood Beach Bar in Sandown, on the Isle of Wight.
But after one of the passers-by reported his routine on Sunday afternoon, Mr Ledger was arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated harassment.
According to Ledger and the owner of the pub, the man who made the complain wasn’t even inside the pub when he began the song. When he heard it, according to the witnesses, he began cursing and making obscene gestures at Ledger then found a police officer and pressed his complaint. The police contacted the keytarist after his show, when he was having dinner in, of all places, a nearby Chinese restaurant. I suppose the tales of his wicked musical insensitivity had not yet spread across the neighborhood.
The local police say they must treat the allegation of a “racially aggravated” crime seriously, and in Britain these days, merely singing a song about King Fu is enough to qualify as racial harassment. I suppose the British government has handled all its other problems (its barely-breathing economy comes to mind here) and can turn its full attention to stamping out the Racist Disco Menace.
Jimmie runs The Sundries Shack and has his own very entertaining podcast called “The Delivery”. He is also an amateur musician, an aspiring composer, an unrepentant geek and an avid fan of Twitter.
does that mean all rap is going to be outlawed too?
I was tired of my lady, we’d been together too long.
Like a worn-out recording, of a favorite song.
So while she lay there sleeping, I read the paper in bed.
And in the personals columns, there was this letter I read:
“If you like Pina Coladas, and get caught in the rain.
If you’re not into yoga, if you have half-a-brain.
If you like making love at midnight, in the dunes of the cape.
I’m the love you’ve looked for, write to me, and escape.”
I didn’t think about my lady, I know that sounds kind of mean.
But me and my old lady, had fallen into the same old dull routine.
So I wrote to the paper, took out a personal ad.
And though I’m nobody’s poet, I thought it wasn’t half-bad.
“Yes, I like Pina Coladas, and get caught in the rain.
I’m not much into health food, I am into champagne.
I’ve got to meet you by tomorrow noon, and cut through all this red tape.
At a bar called O’Malley’s, where we’ll plan our escape.”
So I waited with high hopes, then she walked in the place.
I knew her smile in an instant, I knew the curve of her face.
It was my own lovely lady, and she said, “Oh, it’s you.”
And we laughed for a moment, and I said, “I never knew”..
.
.
and
.
.
Chorus:
Everybody is Kung Fu Fighting
Your mind becomes fast as lightning
Although the future is a little bit fright’ning
It’s the book of your life that you’re writing
You’re a diamond in the rough
A brilliant ball of clay
You could be a work of art
If you just go all the way
Now what would it take to break
I believe that you can bend
Not only do you have to fight
Sad.
(Moderator, please remove this if the photo is too gross.)
RE: does that mean all rap is going to be outlawed too?
Good question, I’d like to see someone perform Eminem on the streets of London.
Add Bette David Eyes in there, and you have “The Official Soundtrack of Hell.”
The short answer is “No, rappers are a protected class under the law.” Well....not from each other....
You left another good one off your list
.
Muskrat, Muskrat, candle light
Doin’ the town and doin’ it right in the evenin’
It’s pretty pleasin’
Muskrat Suzie, Muskrat Sam
Do the jitterbug at a Muskrat Land
And they shimmy, Sam is so skinny
And they whirl and they twirl and they tango
Singin’ and jinglin’ a jangle
Float like the heavens above
Looks like Muskrat Love
Nibblin’ on bacon
Chewin’ on cheese
Sam says to Suzie
Honey, would you please be my Mrs
Suzie says, yes, with her kisses
Now, he’s ticklin’ her fancy
Rubbin’ her toes
Muzzle to muzzle
Now anything goes as they wriggle
Sue starts to giggle
And they whirled and they twirled and they tango
Singin’ and jinglin’ a jangle
Floatin’ like the heavens above
Looks like muskrat love
The “America” version or “The Captain and Tenille” version?
The Captain and Tenille, definitely!
so I’m guessing:
“Ling Ting Tong” = out
“Ahab the Arab” = out
“Baa baa Black Sheep” = out
“Short People” = out
“Indian Giver “ = out
yadia,yada,yada,
I guess this means I can no longer sing “Bertha Butt Boogie” huh?
What about “Short People” or “Play That Funky Music White Boy” too?
Kung fu Fighting
Billy don't be a Hero
Seasons in the sun
The night Chicago Died And others. Wish I still had it, that would be a way to torture the gitmo guys.
Just reading the titles was torture enough.
And don’t forget Blue Swede’s “Hooked on a Feeling”....Ooooga oooga ooooga shakka...ooga ooga ooga shakka....
So if he sang “Turning Japanese” would that constitute hate speech? Love the guitar work in that song....
How about ‘Walk Like an Egyptian’ ? That’s sure to turn the heads of the Anti-Mubarak crowd :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.