Morrissey takes a break from cancelling concerts because he’s too cold, or it’s too noisy, to sing about the Notre Dame fire tragedy.

I know, I know, I know. It’s Morrissey. And I wasn’t even that much of a Smiths fan. But I do like this shimmering electro-ballad with its wonky guitar solo.

I especially like that there are two versions – and I can’t decide which one I prefer.

Of course once we’ve opened our ears we have to close our minds to the conspiracy theory behind the lyric, hinting that the Notre Dame blaze was deliberately started. And started, you’ll immediately infer, by you-know-who. By THEM.

“Notre Dame, We know who tried to kill you,” he croons. “We will not be silent.”

Interestingly, the recorded versions alter the lyric he used to sing live: “Before investigations they said ‘It’s not terrorism’,” has been toned down to the more ambiguous: “They said ‘There’s nothing to see here.'”

Just for the record (not this record), the lengthy French forensic investigation into the fire, which closed the cathedral for five years and cost more than £600 million to restore, failed to find a cause – or a culprit – concluding that “it was probably an accident.”

So Mozza is right in both versions; even if we know he’s being sarcastic.  But that’s ok. It’s a lovely song. So here’s the original version, with the lavishly orchestrated alternative version in the comments underneath.