Benjamin-Constant-The Entry of Mahomet II into Constantinople-1876

"Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" is a 1953

novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and w ...

, with lyrics by

Jimmy Kennedy James Kennedy (20 July 1902 – 6 April 1984) was a Northern Irish songwriter. He was predominantly a lyricist, putting words to existing music such as "Teddy Bears' Picnic" and "My Prayer" or co-writing with composers like Michael Carr, Wi ...

and music by

Nat Simon Nat Simon (6 August 1900, in Newburgh, New York – 1979) was an American composer, pianist, bandleader and songwriter. From the 1930s to 1950s his songs were used in over 20 films. Between 1931 and 1940 he also took part in the musical Vaudeville r ...

. It was written on the 500th anniversary of the

fall of Constantinople The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire. The city fell on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 53-day siege which had begun o ...

to the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

. The lyrics humorously refer to the official renaming of the city of

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. The song's original release, performed by

The Four Lads The Four Lads was a Canadian male singing quartet which, in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, earned many gold singles and albums. Its million-selling signature tunes include "Moments to Remember"; " Standing on the Corner"; "No, Not Much"; "Who Needs ...

, was certified as a gold record. Numerous cover versions have been recorded over the years, most famously a 1990

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

version by

They Might Be Giants They Might Be Giants (often abbreviated as TMBG) is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as a duo, often accompanied by a d ...

Musical influences

The song is said to be a response to "C-O-N-S-T-A-N-T-I-N-O-P-L-E" recorded in 1928 by

Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist. As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 1930s, W ...

The Four Lads original version

"Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" was originally recorded by the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

vocal quartet

on August 12, 1953. This recording was released by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

as catalog number 40082. It first reached the ''Billboard'' magazine charts on October 24, 1953, and it peaked at #10. It was the group's first

gold record Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile meta ...

Cover versions

Bing Crosby & Ella Fitzgerald

This recording may have been from a radio broadcast performance and not originally released on record.

Frankie Vaughan

Frankie Vaughan Frankie Vaughan (born Frank Fruim Abelson; 3 February 1928 – 17 September 1999) was an English singer and actor who recorded more than 80 easy listening and traditional pop singles in his lifetime. He was known as "Mr. Moonlight" after his ...

's 1954 version for HMV reached the UK charts that year with a peak position of No. 11.

Col Joye's Joy Boys

Col Joye Colin Frederick Jacobsen (born 13 April 1937), better known by his stage name Col Joye, is an Australian pioneer rock singer-songwriter, musician and entrepreneur with a career spanning some sixty years. Joye was the first Australian rock and r ...

's backing band recorded an instrumental version on the

Festival Records Festival Records (later known as Festival Mushroom Records) was an Australian recording and publishing company founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1952 and operated until 2005. Festival was a wholly owned subsidiary of News Limited from 1961 to ...

label, which peaked No. 16 in November 1960 according to the former brand of the

ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

, ending up as No. 95 for the 1961 year-end ranking.

The Big Muffin Serious Band

This group from New Zealand released a cover on their LP "Jabberwocky Goes To Town" in 1987.

They Might Be Giants

One of the best-known versions of "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" is the cover by the

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band

(TMBG), who released it on their album ''

Flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

'' in 1990. It was released as the second single from that album in the same year. TMBG's version is at a faster tempo than the original. The music video was featured in the first season of

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's ''

Liquid Television ''Liquid Television'' was an animation showcase that appeared on MTV from 1991 to 1995. It has served as the launching point for several high-profile original cartoons, including ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' and ''Æon Flux''. The bulk of ''Liquid T ...

''. TMBG's version of the song is prominently featured in the ''

Tiny Toon Adventures ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' is an American animated comedy television series that was broadcast from September 14, 1990, to December 6, 1992. It was the first collaborative effort of Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television and Warner Bros. Animation ...

'' episode "Tiny Toon Music Television", as the soundtrack to a segment featuring Plucky Duck as a private detective hired to find a missing statue. It was also used as the theme in the thriller ''Black Magic'' (1992 film) starring Judge Reinhold. In recent years, it appears in the first season of the Netflix series ''

The Umbrella Academy ''The Umbrella Academy'' is an American comic book series created and written by Gerard Way and illustrated by Gabriel Bá. The first six-issue limited series, '' The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite,'' was released by Dark Horse Comics betwee ...

'', as well as an ending to an episode of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

'', "

Mobile Homer "Mobile Homer" is the seventeenth season premiere of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It was first broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on May 1, 2005. In the episode, Marge saves money for life insurance, wo ...

". The single reached number 61 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in 1990. TMBG later recorded an electronic version of the song for their 2011 compilation album, '' Album Raises New and Troubling Questions''.

The Sacados

A Spanish language version called "Estambul" was recorded by Argentine synth-pop trio The Sacados in 1990. The song was included on their debut album "Te pido + respeto" (1990).

Bart & Baker

Electro Swing Electro swing, or swing house, is an electronic dance music genre that combines the influence of vintage or modern swing and jazz mixed with house and hip hop. Successful examples of the genre create a modern and dance-floor focused sound tha ...

duo Bart & Baker covered the song for their album "The Jet Lag EP" (2012). Another version called "Istanbul 2016" was included on their curation album "Best Of Electro Swing By Bart & Baker" (2016).

Live performance cover versions

The Duke's Men of Yale Doox of Yale (formerly The Duke's Men of Yale) are an all-gender undergraduate a cappella group at Yale University. The group was founded by first-year students in 1952, and was the first TTBB a cappella group at Yale to become all-gender in 201 ...

, an all-male

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

group at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, perform the song at the end of most of their concerts. The song has been in the repertoire of the Duke's Men since 1953. During the 2000s, the song was performed live by Australian Klezmer/Gypsy Jazz band

Monsieur Camembert Monsieur Camembert is a five-piece Gypsy fusion band formed in Sydney, Australia in 1997. They have won three ARIA Music Awards for Best World Music Album in ARIA Music Awards of 2002, 2002 for ''Live on Stage (Monsieur Camembert album), Live on ...

, appearing on the album ''Live on Stage''. *

References

{{authority control 1953 songs 1990 EPs 1990 singles Elektra Records singles Warner Music Group singles Swing music Songs about cities Songs about Turkey Songs with lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy Songs with music by Nat Simon The Four Lads songs They Might Be Giants EPs They Might Be Giants songs Song recordings produced by Clive Langer Song recordings produced by Alan Winstanley Novelty songs