A new message to cheer me up after a triggering remark on Morrissey

veradapozzo8

3 hours ago

5 min read

[Paris, 12th October 2026, 1:00 A.M.]

A new message from Morrissey on Central, about his favourite albums and singles from his own repertoire. The title of his post is clearly a hint to In my Life (1965), one of my favourite Beatles' songs, and God knows how I needed a message like this one to cheer me up just now.

I am back from the karaoke night with bittersweet feelings: a kind, unexpected gift from F., an old habitué; cheerful people, as usual; three guys/girls singing-a-long I wish You Lonely with me, and another guy warmly expressing his appreciation for my choice at the end of the song, but...

... but...

...Why did P. say "On s'excuse pour les chanteurs homophobes"?!? Since when Morrissey would be homophobe?!?

As I felt some bad vibrations in the air, when P. called me to the microphone I was less self-confident than usual: I even had a blank and had to check the lyrics on the screen, even if I know them by heart and I have already sung this song in Italy, fourteen months ago, by heart, with my full voice, plenty of energy and so much brio that my Sicilian lavic pearls bracelet with a tiny metal turtle fled from my wrist and fell far on the floor.

Tonight the bar was not full, but many habitués were there and many of them (not just the four people I mentioned, but also other people who did not know this song) really enjoyed I wish You Lonely...

[8:30 A.M., still in bed; I fell asleep while I was writing on my smartphone. I have spent the whole morning in bed and I do not regret it at all, as I could (journée banalisée at school today) and my energy was lower than my smartphone's battery.]

P.'s bizarre remark on Morrissey (without mentioning his name, as he was Voldemort) when I was getting back to my table was so out of the blue that, at the beginning, I did not even realized to whom it was addressed and about whom, but F., who was sitting beside me, asked me: "Who's the singer? Have you heard what P. said?" and then I realized that P. was talking about Morrissey. I had to explain to F. (the old habitué who kindly surprised me with an unexpected gift) who Morrissey is and how absurd and unfair is to call him homophobe.

[2:30 P.M., on the bus which goes to the Panthéon, after a walk in my beloved park.]

Since the infamous SMS I received from P., I have always feared that he (she, when he is in drag) would give a "disclaimer speech" before or after a song by Morrissey, but I had never imagined this. Until tonight, I thought that, somehow, I was able to shield Morrissey from any silly warning and I did hope that this kind of clueless speech would never be given.

Anyway, it seems that nobody except F. and myself, have heard what P. said, and I am glad I have ignored P.'s words, like a polite person would ignore someone's burp.

Nonetheless, these triggering words worry me because, by choosing this blatant lie, P. wanted to discredit Morrissey in a place which, even if it is wide open to everyone (even me, an outsider and outcast by birth) is clearly labelled LGBTQI+. In fact, I have my good reasons to think that, as there are lots of people who like The Smiths and Morrissey, instead of hinting to Morrissey's "controversial views", which do not seem to shock as many people as he/she wished, P. decided to define Morrissey "homophobe" in the attempt to make him persona non grata to the habitués who still like him and enjoy his songs.

[8:00 P.M., after spending a nice afternoon at the Irish Cultural Centre (viva Gulliver and Jonathan Swift!) and having a quick vegan dinner.]

Meanwhile, I have never heard any warning when people sing certain "modern" songs whose lyrics are full of crude, vulgar lyrics about females who are qualified or qualify themselves as happy bitches whose only interests are men for sex and money.

I am not the only one to have noticed this bias; F. too, he complained about it with me once. But probably it is just because F. is an old man and I am even older than him, as for my forma mentis.

And what about the propaganda P. does for a certain French politician, the old, arrogant, self-centered, megalomaniac chef suprême of La France imbécile? A guy who, without really working during his life, is extremely rich, thanks to his lifelong political activity and whose political party, just like the Renfrognement National, its rival on the opposite extreme of the political spectrum, was fed by the same hand coming from a certain Country in the East of Europe - the hand of a man who is really and fiercely homophobe, while Morrissey is clearly not.

Camila Grey, Carmen Vandenberg and Juan Galeano would have never accepted to play for Morrissey, otherwise...

It is a pity that people like P., who is a well-grown man (he could be my uncle) and not a stupid one, have this obsession for lecturing the others, as they were not allowed to think by themself and to have their own opinion, and refuse to debate with people having another point of view and (as in my case) being well-informed about the matter.

However, despite of P.'s unpleasant, unfair and false remark on Morrissey, I will not stop singing his songs at the karaoke nights: in all my life, I have never let somebody tell me what I have or do not have to think.

And, when I left the bar at the ending of the soirée, I blasted Irish Blood, English Heart (the live version in Cernobbio) and I smiled, as I imagined how P. would react if ever he watched me shaking hands with Morrissey - and what about the autograph in Zurich? He would surely think that I am unredeemable...

Back to Morrissey's message, I agree on all his album choices, even if, on my personal list, I put Vauxhall and I, Years of Refusal and Swords higher and You are the Quarry on a lower place, and I obviously have a soft spot for Morrissey's first solo albums (my childhood's last years) and also for I am not a Dog on a Chain.

I wanted Rank so bad that I asked Santa Claus the album and a cassette player and recorder for Christmas; I received just the cassette player and recorder and I was very happy, because my sister could record The Smiths' and Morrissey's songs from the radio, as it was impossible to find the cassettes in Palermo at that time; but I did not receive Rank and this is why I stopped to believe in Santa Claus' existence.

As for Make-up is a Lie, I do like it a lot and I hope that Bonfire of Teenagers will finally be released next year.

About the singles, my choices differ more, but who cares? It is so endearing to know what Morrissey, the true Wordsmith of the Soul, thinks about his own creatures.

Vera da Pozzo

Paris, 12th October 2026

Article above by me, without Artificial Idiocy, of course.

Photo below also by me.

Notre-Dame photographed from the bus, Saint Patrick's Chapel and the Irish Cultural Centre's courtyard.