It was written on the th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans. The lyrics humorously refer to the official renaming of the city of Constantinople to Istanbul.
The song's original release, performed by The Four Lads , was certified as a gold record. Numerous cover versions have been recorded over the years, most famously a version by They Might Be Giants. This recording was released by Columbia Records as catalog number It first reached the Billboard magazine charts on October 24, , and it peaked at It was the group's first gold record. Col Joye 's backing band recorded an instrumental version on the Festival Records label, which peaked No.
It was first broadcast as a duet with Ella Fitzgerald at the end of , and later with Connie Russell in early 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. TMBG's version of the song is prominently featured in the Tiny Toon Adventures 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 starring Judge Reinhold. It later appeared in the first season of the Netflix series The Umbrella Academy , as well as an ending to an episode of The Simpsons , " Mobile Homer ". The single reached number 61 on the UK Singles Chart in A Spanish language version called "Estambul" was recorded by Argentine synth-pop trio The Sacados in It used as background music.
In Season 2, Episode 4 U. The Doox of Yale , an 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 group since when they were known as "The Duke's Men". Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikidata item. For the Decemberists song, see Picaresqueties.
