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Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

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Vimeo
Music video for "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)"
Screenshot from the regular music video.
Plucky as Linnell and Hamton as Flans in the Tiny Toons music video.

song name Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
artist They Might Be Giants
releases Flood, Istanbul (Not Constantinople) (EP), Dial-A-Song: 20 Years Of They Might Be Giants, A User's Guide To They Might Be Giants: Melody, Fidelity, Quantity, Rhino Hi-Five: They Might Be Giants (EP)
year 1990
first played June 14, 1988 (925 known performances)
run time 2:38
sung by John Flansburgh, John Linnell

Trivia/Info

When we were recording the Flood album, we had bought these Casio FD-1 samplers. I basically spent a couple of weeks in my house recording every single thing I could figure out how to record and playing it back on the keyboard. And so all these things that you hear on Istanbul are samples, except for the violin solo at the beginning and the trumpet in the middle. The thing that sounds like an accordion is actually a melodica that's been sampled. In the 'Even old New York' part, it's a Coke bottle being blown into a chord. The song's got a very unusual texture.
This song I knew from my childhood, and we learned it simply to have more songs in our repertoire. It was in the show for a couple of years, and John and I would perform without the drum machine. It had a very spaced out middle section where we would basically yodel into an echo effect and it all went very, very trippy. It always got a good response, and when we got our fancy Casio FZ-1 samplers, this track was one of the things we put together to test it out.

Song Themes

Cartoons, Cities, Educational, Geography, History, New York City, Oxymorons, Paradoxes, And Contradictory Statements, Questions, TMBG Remakes, Two Chord Songs

Videos

  • Watch it on Vimeo.png
  • Tonight Show performance. Watch it on Youtube.png - Recorded live on April 3, 1990

Available for Purchaseedit

Site Format Price Download!
Amazon
MP3 99¢ Purchase!
MP3 49¢ Purchase!
AAC $1.29 Purchase!
MP3
N/A
N/A

Free Downloads

Site Format Price Download!
MP3
N/A
N/A

Previews

TMBG Clock Radio (FM band)


Current Rating

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Istanbul (Not Constantinople) is currently ranked #376 out of 710. (97 wikians have given it an average rating of 8.16)