Morrissey releases ‘Notre-Dame’ and leaves out controversial “terrorism” lyric from song
Morrissey has shared his new single ‘Notre-Dame’, which omits a controversial lyric about “terrorism” that he previously sang during live performances.
‘Notre-Dame’ is the second single to be released from Morrissey’s upcoming album, Make Up Is A Lie, set for release on March 6th, after he previously shared the title track for the record last month.
The new track sees Morrissey team up again with his longtime collaborator and former guitarist Alain Whyte, who is credited as co-writing and performing on ‘Notre Dame’.
Notably, Morrissey had previously played ‘Notre Dame’ on several occasions during his tour in 2023, which later emerged online.
In the live performances that surfaced on YouTube, Morrissey sings, “Before investigations, They said, ‘It’s not terrorism’.” However, in the new single version, he instead sings, “Before investigations, They said, ‘There’s nothing to see here’.”
The line, “Before investigations, they said, ‘There’s nothing to see here'”, also featured in the version of ‘Notre-Dame’ during the series of shows in 2023, but it was only sung by Morrissey once rather than throughout the song.
‘Notre-Dame’ is inspired by the tragic fire of the historical Parisian cathedral, which took place on April 15th, 2019. Following a five-year renovation process, which cost over $700 million, it finally opened its doors to the public again in 2024.
Per a 2024 report from the French publication, Le Monde, no cause had been identified for the fire of Notre-Dame despite a huge investigation from authorities.
Paris’ chief prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in April 2024, “Every avenue, including the hypothesis of a human role in the origin of this fire (has been) explored since the beginning of the investigation. But the truth is that the closer we have got to the spot the fire started, and the more results of analyses come back, the more weight is lent to the theory of an accident.”
Morrissey is set to return to France on March 4th for a show in Lille as part of his upcoming European tour, which also includes a standalone UK date at the O2 Arena in London on February 28th.
A press representative for Morrissey has been contacted for comment on the ‘Notre-Dame’ lyric change.
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