Morrissey shares new single ‘Notre-Dame’ after removing controversial terrorism lyric

Morrissey has dropped a new single, ‘Notre-Dame’, which notably omits a controversial lyric relating to terrorism that he sang live.

• READ MORE: The Smiths: every song ranked in order of greatness

The mid-paced indie-rock track, dominated by a wobbling synth line, was inspired by the tragic fire of the historical Parisian cathedral on April 15, 2019. “Notre-Dame, we know who tried to kill you,” Morrissey sings. “Notre-Dame, we will not be silent.”

It was closed for five years and had to be renovated at a cost of over $700 million afterwards. A huge investigation into the cause of the fire found no identifiable reason why the fire started.

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.”

The former frontman of The Smiths had been performing the song live as far back as 2023, in which he sang: “Before investigations/They said, ‘It’s not terrorism’.” In the studio version of the song, that line has been altered to a repeat of the earlier line “Before investigations/They said, ‘There’s nothing to see here.’”

Check out the song below:

‘Notre-Dame’ is the second single to be taken from Morrissey’s forthcoming album ‘Make-Up Is A Lie’, which will be his first album for six years. Upon announcing it last month, he also unveiled its title track.

The album drops on March 6 via Sire Records, who Morrissey signed with after he declared he had “voluntarily withdrawn from any association with Capitol Records”.

It is separate from his long-delayed album ‘Bonfire Of Teenagers’. Controversy around the album continued the following year, when Morrissey alleged on his website that he was “quickly coming around to” the belief that [Capitol Records] only signed ‘Bonfire Of Teenagers’ “in order to sabotage it”. He doubled down on this stance later too, alleging that the CEO of Capitol was trying to derail his career, and then claiming that he was being “gagged” over its release.

Miley Cyrus was set to feature on the long-delayed album, providing vocals to a song called ‘I Am Veronica’. She recorded the song with Morrissey in 2020, but later asked to have her backing vocals removed. It appears that the decision was made in relation to his political stance, and his support for the controversial far-right party For Britain.

Morrissey has insisted that he is not far right, and former bandmate and guitarist Johnny Marr previously spoke out about the topic too, saying that he thinks it has “cast a shadow over The Smiths”.

Morrissey later shared that he had bought back the rights to ‘Bonfire Of Teenagers’, but it remains unclear if it will be released anytime soon.

Morrissey will be playing European shows this month, beginning in Denmark on February 13. The tour also includes a headline date at The O2, which is his only scheduled UK gig of the year. Find any remaining tickets to the UK show here, and to international shows here.

However, the singer has cancelled five shows so far this year, most recently in Florida. This, alongside performances in San Diego, St. Louis and Atlanta – were said to be due to “artist illness”. He postponed another show in California, too, following an “adverse reaction to a prescription medication”.