the blog quebecois

bigmouth, oh
bigmouth, la
bigmouth strikes again
and I've got no right to take my place
with the human race oh

-- the smiths

LONDON—Morrissey, outspoken lead singer of '80s rockers The Smiths, has sparked an Internet storm with reported comments about U.S. President George W. Bush.

The Manchester Evening News said yesterday it received a record number of hits after reporting on its Web site that Morrissey, 45, had interrupted a Dublin concert Saturday with news of former president Reagan's death, adding that he wished Bush had died instead.

I must confess I recently had the same ignoble thought, and I'm not proud about it.

When I heard of Ray Charles' death, I wailed, "Why, oh why couldn't it have been Morrissey instead?"