Passenger Detained Over Song Choice

LONDON - You expect to have your luggage scrutinized at the airport. But how about your choice of music?

Security staff at a British airport stopped a businessman from catching a flight because the songs he had asked a taxi driver to play on the car stereo made the driver suspicious, police said.

Harraj Mann, who is of Indian origin, had the songs stored on an MP3 player, which the cab was equipped to play on its stereo. Mann asked the driver to play "London Calling" by the Clash as they headed for Tees Valley International Airport near Darlington in northern England on March 30, news reports said.

The lyrics include the words "London calling from the faraway towns, now war is declared and battle come down/ London calling to the underworld, come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls."

Mann, 24, also asked the driver to play "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin, which begins, "The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands, to fight the horde singing and crying Valhalla, I'm coming!"

The driver alerted airport authorities and Mann was arrested as he boarded a flight for London's Heathrow Airport. He missed the flight and later took a taxi home.

Durham Police said the plane took off before they had established that the man was not a threat.

"In this case the report was made with the best of intentions and we would not want to discourage people from contacting us with genuine concerns regarding security," police said in a statement.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Mann was quoted as saying the incident was "preposterous."

"I never, ever play the race card, I really do forget I'm Asian," he was quoted as saying. "But when something like this happens, it does make you think."

Here are the lyrics:

London calling to the faraway towns
Now war is declared, and battle come down
London calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls
London calling, now don't look to us
Phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust
London calling, see we ain't got no swing
'Cept for the ring of that truncheon thing

[Chorus 1:]
The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in
Meltdown expected, the wheat is growing thin
Engines stop running, but I have no fear
'Cause London is drowning, and I live by the river

London calling to the imitation zone
Forget it, brother, you can go it alone
London calling to the zombies of death
Quit holding out, and draw another breath
London calling, and I don't wanna shout
But when we were talking, I saw you nodding out
London calling, see we ain't got no high
Except for that one with the yellowy eyes

[Chorus 2: (x2)]
The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in
Engines stop running, the wheat is growing thin
A nuclear era, but I have no fear
'Cause London is drowning, and I live by the river

Now get this

London calling, yes, I was there, too
An' you know what they said? Well, some of it was true!
London calling at the top of the dial
After all this, won't you give me a smile?
London calling

I never felt so much alike [fading] alike alike alike

You didn't pay attention to ALL of the Beach Boy's lyrics, did you?

Consider A Day In The Life Of A Tree

Feel the wind burn through my skin
The pain, the air is killing me
For years my limbs stretched to the sky
A nest for birds to sit and sing

But now my branches suffer
And my leaves don't bear the glow
They did so long ago

One day I was full of life
My sap was rich and I was strong
From seed to tree I grew so tall
Through wind and rain I could not fall

But now my branches suffer
and my leaves don't offer
Poetry to men of song

Trees like me weren't meant to live
If all this world can give
Pollution and slow death

Oh Lord I lay me down
No life's left to be found
There's nothing left for me

Trees like me weren't meant to live
If all this earth can give
Is pollution

Trees like me weren't meant to live
(Oh Lord I lay me down)
If all this earth can give
(My branches to the ground)
Is pollution and slow death
(There's nothing left for me)

Oh Lord I lay me down
My branches to the ground
There's nothing left for me

Kind of sounds like an eco-terrorist, dontcha know?

Or what about Heroes and Villains?

I've been in this town so long that back in the city
I've been taken for lost and gone
And unknown for a long long time

Fell in love years ago
With an innocent girl
From the Spanish and Indian home
Home of the heroes and villains

Once at night Catillian squared the fight
And she was right in the rain of the bullets that eventually brought her down
But she's still dancing in the night
Unafraid of what a dude'll do in a town full of heroes and villains

Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done

Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done

Stand or fall I know there
Shall be peace in the valley
And it's all an affair
Of my life with the heroes and villains

My children were raised
You know they suddenly rise
They started slow long ago
Head to toe healthy weathy and wise

I've been in this town so long
So long to the city
I'm fit with the stuff
To ride in the rough
And sunny down snuff I'm alright
By the heroes and

Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done

Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done

Or Student Demonstration Time

Starting out with Berkeley Free Speech
And later on at People's Park
The winds of change fanned into flames
Student demonstrations spark
Down to Isla Vista where police felt so harassed
They called the special riot squad of the L. A. County Sheriff

Well there's a riot going on
There's a riot going on
There's a riot going on
Student demonstration time

The violence spread down South to where Jackson State brothers
Learned not to say nasty things about Southern policemen's mothers
Nothing much was said about it and really next to nothing done
The pen is mightier than the sword, but no match for a gun

Well there's a riot going on
There's a riot going on
Well there's a riot going on
'Cause it's student demonstration time

America was stunned on May 4, 1970
When rally turned to riot up at Kent State University
They said the students scared the Guard
Though the troops were battle dressed
Four martyrs earned a new degree
The Bachelor of Bullets
I know we're all fed up with useless wars and racial strife
But next time there's a riot, well, you best stay out of sight

Well there's a riot going on
There's a riot going on
Well there's a riot going on
Student demonstration time

Stay away when there's a riot going on
Student demonstration
Stay away when there's a riot going on
Student demonstration
Stay away when there's a riot going on
Student demonstration
Stay away when there's a riot going on
It's student demonstration
Stay away when there's a riot going on
Student demonstration
Stay away when there's a riot going on
Student demonstration
Stay away when there's a riot going on
It's student demonstration
Stay away when there's a riot going on
Student demonstration

Play those and they'll definitely lock you up, given the examples of this poor sod!

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