Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Istanbul (Not Constantinople) is a swing-style song, written by Jimmy Kennedy and Nat Simon. It is based on the music for "Puttin' on the Ritz", written by Irving Berlin in 1929.
It was originally performed by The Four Lads in a recording made on August 12, 1953. This recording was released by Columbia Records as catalog number 40082. It first reached the Billboard magazine charts on October 24, 1953, and it peaked at #10.
The lyrics humorously remind the listener of the change of the name of the city Constantinople to the Turkish name of Istanbul, professing uncertainty about how and why the names of cities change.
[edit] Covers
The best-known version of the song is the cover by the rock group They Might Be Giants, who released it on their LP Flood in 1990, and on its own EP that same year. TMBG's version is at a faster tempo than the original and contains a distinct klezmer influence, including a violin introduction and some accordion parts.
The Duke's Men of Yale, an all-male a cappella group at Yale University, perform the song at the end of most of their concerts. The song has been in the repertoire of the Duke's Men for fifty-three years.
The song is on the album "Bette Midler Live at Last."
The song is also covered as the opening track on the Ska Cubano Album "Ay Caramba".
[edit] Cultural uses
The They Might Be Giants version of the song was used for a music video in an episode of the animated children's series Tiny Toon Adventures.
An episode of The Simpsons in which Homer buys an RV with Marge's "scrimpings", features the TMBG version of the song when the family is invited on the deck of a Turkish Freighter upon which the RV landed.
The song was also featured in the 2003 film Mona Lisa Smile, and the Pierce Brosnan episode of Muppets Tonight.
In 2005, the song was featured in Konami's Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX 3, for Microsoft's Xbox console.
