"Istanbul " was originally recorded by the Canadianvocal quartet The Four Lads 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. It was the group's first gold record.
Cover versions
Frankie Vaughan Frankie Vaughan's 1954 version for HMV reached the UK charts that year with a peak position of No. 11. The Big Muffin Serious Band This eclectic but lesser known group from New Zealand released a fun cover on their LP "Jabberwocky Goes To Town" in 1987.
They Might Be Giants
One of the better-known versions of "Istanbul " is the cover by the alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, 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 Liquid Television. An animated version appeared on the series Tiny Toon Adventures, featuring Plucky Duck as a private detective hired to find a missing statue. The single reached number 61 on the UK Singles Chart in 1990. TMBG also later recorded an electronic version of the song for their 2011 compilation album, Album Raises New and Troubling Questions.
Live performance cover versions
, 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 since 1953. During the 2000s, the song was performed live by Australian Klezmer/Gypsy Jazz band Monsieur Camembert, appearing on the albumLive on Stage.
The lyrics were used in the February 21, 1954 episode of The Jack Benny Program during a sketch about a man trying to buy a train ticket to Constantinople. Jack Benny and Frank Nelson proceed to use the lyrics to dispute where the man can go.
On NBC's America's Got Talent on August 16, 2011, the act Those Funny Little People performed a routine to the They Might Be Giants version of this song.
The song is featured in Just Dance Kids 2 and Just Dance 4, both by publisher Ubisoft. It's later featured in Just Dance Unlimited and Just Dance Now, this only applies to the latter version mentioned above.
In , a level is named "Now it's Istanbul".
Chapter 2 of Jacques Steinberg's book The Gatekeepers is titled "Istanbul ".
In week 10 of series 12 of Strictly Come Dancing, Caroline Flack performed a Charleston with professional partner Pasha Kovalev to this song performed live on the night by the Dave Arch band. Her dance achieved the highest score of the series so far, earning herself 39 points from the judges. She also performed the dance to the song in the final, earning a perfect score of 40 points.
On the TV show Bunheads, season 1 episode 6 concludes with Sasha, one of the main characters, leads a fantasy contemporary ballet dance number set to the They Might Be Giants version, in the form of a pas de trois.
In 2019, the song was featured in the soundtrack to the web television series The Umbrella Academy.
In 2010, Season 1 Episode 3 of Raising Hope featured this song at the beginning of the episode when the character Maw Maw is playing Jenga and later in the episode when Maw Maw is removing the hoarded goods Jenga-style to free baby Hope.
