Bruce Springsteen slams George Bush

Bruce Springsteen used his performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on Sunday, April 30th, to take some pointed shots at US President George W. Bush. The Boss said he'd been to the city's devastated Ninth Ward and he told the audience, "I saw sights I never thought I'd see in an American city. The criminal ineptitude makes you furious." He also dedicated the Depression-era song "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?" to "President Bystander."

At the official brucespringsteen.net website, Springsteen has posted a version of the song from his recent rehearsal shows in Asbury Park, New Jersey. On the site, Springsteen wrote that he kept the original first verse of the song and then wrote three new ones "with a mind to the great trials the people of New Orleans have faced this year." Those new lyrics include the lines "I got family scattered from Texas all the way to Baltimore" and "There's bodies floatin' on Canal and the levees gone to Hell," and the second verse is a jab at President Bush:

"He says 'me and my old school pals had some might high times down here
And what happened to you poor black folks, well it just ain't fair'
He took a look around gave a little pep talk, said 'I'm with you' then he took a little walk
Tell me, how can a poor man stand such times and live?"

The song was written by Blind Alfred Reed and first recorded just after the stock market crash of 1929 that led to the Great Depression. The Boss said he first heard it on guitarist Ry Cooder's self-titled debut album in 1970, and that the arrangement he and the Seeger Sessions Band play is derived from Cooder's performance.

Springsteen and company will now head to Europe for shows beginning May 5th in Dublin, Ireland, with U.S. dates starting in Boston on May 27th.