Good Thing He Wasn’t Singing Along

A 23 year-old Indian Born British man was frog-marched off an airplane, detained and questioned on suspicion of terrorism. The reason? He listened to a couple of songs in a cab to the airport.

The cabbie alerted police after listening to the lyrics of "London Calling" by The Clash and "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin. He was suspicious when the passenger was playing those songs on the ride to the airport.

"I got frogmarched off the plane in front of everyone, got my bags searched, asked every question you can think of," Mann, a mobile phone salesman, told his local newspaper, the Hartlepool Mail, on Monday — a story that was picked up by the national press on Wednesday.

"I was being held for questioning under the Terrorism Act," he said.

By the time Mann was set free his plane had already departed.

The offending lyrics by The Clash include the lines: "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."

"Immigrant Song", for its part, starts: "The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands, to fight the horde singing and crying Valhalla, I'm coming!"

You're less likely to be arrested in England if you're a burglar than a music fan it seems.

Now, I can understand arresting someone for listening to Led Zeppelin, that should be a crime. But The Clash?

(Just imagine the police reaction if he'd sung the line, "Drop your bombs between the minarets"*. Wouldn't have been pretty.)

* Rock The Casbah, The Clash, 1982