“Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” is a 1953 novelty song, with lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy and music by Nat Simon. It was written on the 500th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans. The lyrics refer to the official renaming of the city of Constantinople to Istanbul. “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” was originally recorded by the Canadian vocal quartet The Four Lads in August 1953. This recording was released by Columbia Records as catalog number 40082. It first reached the Billboard in October 1953, and it peaked at No.10. It was the group’s first gold record.
One of the best-known versions of “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” is the cover by the band They Might Be Giants (TMBG), who released it on their album Flood 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’s Liquid Television. An animated version appeared on the series Tiny Toon Adventures’ episode “Tiny Toon Music Television”, featuring Plucky Duck as a private detective hired to find a missing statue. The single reached number 61 in the UK in 1990. TMBG also later recorded an electronic version of the song for their 2011 compilation album, Album Raises New and Troubling Questions. Their version is also featured in the first season of the Netflix series The Umbrella Academy.
“Hanging on the Telephone” was originally written by Jack Lee for his band, the Nerves. The song appeared as the lead-off track on the Nerves’s 1976 EP; however, the release was a commercial failure and became the group’s only release. Long after the song’s eventual commercial success, Lee reflected “Even people who hated me – and there were plenty – had to admit it was great.”
The song was later popularized by Blondie covered the track on their 1978 album, Parallel Lines. The band discovered the song after Jeffrey Lee Pierce of the Gun Club sent the band a cassette of the track. Blondie frontwoman Deborah Harry explained: We were playing it in the back of a taxicab in Tokyo, and the taxicab driver started tapping his hand on the steering wheel. When we came back to the US, we found that the Nerves weren’t together anymore and we said, ‘Gee, we should record this.’ Blondie released their cover of “Hanging on the Telephone” the second single from their 1978 album Parallel Lines in both the US and UK. The single failed to chart in the US, but it eventually reached number five in the UK in November 1978. The single also was a moderate hit throughout Europe, reaching the top 20 in Ireland, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
“It’s Oh So Quiet” is a cover of the German song “Und jetzt ist es still”, performed by Horst Winter in 1948, with music written by Austrian composer Hans Lang and German lyrics by Erich Meder. The English lyrics were written by Bert Reisfield. A French title, “Tout est tranquille”, was performed in 1949 by Ginette Gardcin and the Jacques Helian Orchestra.
The song was covered by Icelandic musician Bjork in 1995. It was released as the third single from her second album Post (1995) and remains her biggest hit, reaching number 4 in the UK and spending 15 weeks in the UK. Fueled by the Spike Jonze-directed music video, the single also shot Björk into the spotlight in Australia, where it reached number 6. In the UK the single has been certified as gold, having sold upwards of 400,000 copies. James Masterton for Dotmusic said Björk’s version of the song “stands out as one of the most bizarre singles she has ever recorded.” He described it “as Icelandic pixie meets the sound of Frank Sinatra to almost perfect effect.
