Notre Dame - live - unofficial video

And Alain once thought he would get stick for one of his melodies being married to the title of "The National Front Disco." 😑

It's got a nice smooth groove to it, quite different from other Morrissey/Whyte tunes, esp once Brendan hits the 16ths on the hi-hat. A shame about the lyrics, though...
 
Johnnie Ray said:
I can't help but wonder if Morrissey is having a nervous breakdown. Without serious professional help, I fear his life goes the way of Syd Barret's and he gives up and lives his final years as a recluse.
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Morrissey's "more loony than usual" phase is quite tame compared to Barrett's. I don't see him giving up and going into sequestration. While he's definitely more reclusive now when it comes to the press and any outside honest scrutiny, he really seems to enjoy touring and recording and living out of hotels. People are being photographed with him in the streets and in pubs, and he looks good.

The more I watch of the recent shows in Israel, I'm somewhat more optimistic about him than the initial let-down of Notre Dame portended. I think the two new musicians could breathe some fresh air into his world. Morrissey has been somewhat adrift aesthetically for a few years, but the veneer of things has promise. Gustavo Manzur was kind of a beefy, macho presence onstage, and now there's a wispy, languorous creature behind the keyboards. And on guitar is a slender, studious-looking androgyne. It all has a very nice aura. I don't understand the criticisms of how things sounded. Carmen Vandenberg is able to give a heavy guitar sound a deft touch. I think this could inspire Morrissey. Thank God that "bro" band he had around Years of Refusal, with the naked Red Hot Chili Peppers-like photo shoot, is now entirely gone except for Tobias. Once he gets really comfortable with the new band, I can see how he might settle into a tasteful "non-binary" ambiance and get less paranoid about things. All this "anti-woke/free speech" stuff is just so done to death, it's dragging him down. As someone else has said, he needs to take his own advice and "stop watching the news" and recover his rapier wit.
 
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First time actually listening to this song. Not to pile on, but.... interesting, groovy music with shit lyrics.
 
What a waste. That good music required more effort with the lyrics. I don't think he has ever written worse lyrics, even Fatty is slightly better, though that music is not this good. Such a shame. I hope he won't say that Earth is flat one day.
I wonder why his prose is so rich and beautiful whereas many of his lyrics are so poor. He's just lazy.
There's plenty of arguments to touch, climate changing, the future of mankind... I'm often left with the desire of more words, more nuances, more wit. He doesn't go deeper, doesn't elaborate. I love him, but I'm starting to think he doesn't care much anymore, or maybe he has nothing more to say. Too many of his lyrics just seem an excuse to add a new song to the catalogue. Don't get me wrong, I am one of those few who appreciate all his albums, but he could just do so much with just a little more... will?
 
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The whole retro black and whote movie vibe of this fan video is like someone who hasn't moved past The Smiths aesthetic and thinks it's still the 80's. That whole era is long gone, daddio. If you want to illustrate the lyrics of this song, and Morrissey in general circa 2023, the video should have been contemporary shots of immigrants rioting in France, intercut with footage of Notre Dame burning, and right-wing conspiracy pundits raging online. At least be honest in regards to what this (frankly terrible) song is about.
 
There are a whole lot of islamist terrorist attacks in France to write songs about. Why write about a non- existing one? It is totally crazy. Totally crazy!
And thinking this will give you a record deal is even crazier. Anyone who participated, no one noticed? Producer, engineer, musicians?

I’d rather have 178 new songs about Generation X and Ramones 1976 or Joni Mitchell cover songs than this.
 
skull said:
What a waste. That good music required more effort with the lyrics. I don't think he has ever written worse lyrics
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What about Kerouac's Crack? For me that's the absolute worst song he's cobbled together.
For Notre-Dame, I'm liking the track more & more (it's addictive for sure), and am even OK with the minimalist approach to the lyrics.
He doesn't need to elaborate further to make his point.
 
Phranc & Open said:
Notre-Dame vs Now my heart is full
LIGHT YEARS!!!
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Well maybe P&O, but as I've mentioned to you before, Moz has moved on from that kind of stuff; you, however, are stuck in a 90s time warp.
Please know, the 1990s will never come around again.

Enjoy:

 
Mozmar said:
Well maybe P&O, but as I've mentioned to you before, Moz has moved on from that kind of stuff; you, however, are stuck in a 90s time warp.
Please know, the 1990s will never come around again.

Enjoy:

Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong, these two women are cool. I like them. But it takes a lot of good-will to call the music of Notre Dame great. Some kind of lazy Miami Vice groove with conspiracy theories? That's not a positive development compared to the once irresistible 90s indie pop EXTRAVAGANZA..
 
Anonymous said:
The whole retro black and whote movie vibe of this fan video is like someone who hasn't moved past The Smiths aesthetic and thinks it's still the 80's. That whole era is long gone, daddio. If you want to illustrate the lyrics of this song, and Morrissey in general circa 2023, the video should have been contemporary shots of immigrants rioting in France, intercut with footage of Notre Dame burning, and right-wing conspiracy pundits raging online. At least be honest in regards to what this (frankly terrible) song is about.
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Thanks for the feedback. I dont always use B/W old films for these videos but I confess I do find that asthetic emotive. The Smiths are more usually associated with imagery from the kitchen sink English films of the 1960's. I chose this 1939 American version of the Hunchback of Notre Dame firstly due to the obvious Notre Dame link but also because of the great performance by Laughton. He captures the tenderness and loneliness of the disfigured outsider in a cruel cruel world so well. The story also has themes concerning power, religion and passion and so I thought it had some ressonance and relevance. I get that it isnt directly related to the topic of the song and I added the flames to give the images some new meaning given the context. Also Morrissey uses a backdrop for the live performance with similar images to the ones you describe and so I didnt want to repeat that too much.
 
Mozmar said:
What about Kerouac's Crack? For me that's the absolute worst song he's cobbled together.
For Notre-Dame, I'm liking the track more & more (it's addictive for sure), and am even OK with the minimalist approach to the lyrics.
He doesn't need to elaborate further to make his point.
Click to expand...
Yes, his point is clear. I hoped he didn't believe in these internet conspiracy theories. I hope he doesn't write about Flat Earth.
The music is good, addictive, like in Kerouac's crack, and that's the waste. In that song, at least, he plays with the concept "anything more, anything less". Here he is disappointing because words can be minimalist, of course, but my problem is just the stupid message they convey.
 
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