They Might Be Giants - Istanbul (Not Constantinople) (Official Music Video)
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- Опубліковано 6 лют 2025
- You're watching the official music video for They Might Be Giants - "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" from the album 'Flood' (1990)
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My history teacher played this banger in class and had it on loop for the ENTIRE class period. Nobody got tired of it or asked to change the song. Amazing job, guys!
My friend and I used to listen to this on repeat in my car while cruising around town. He'd sing the low parts while I sang the high parts. We'd go with the windows rolled down for the luls, oh so many funny/amused looks we got from people! Good times, good times...
@@mustchoosewisely Thats nice.
I wish I was there.
i love your pfp and good for you
I love it but after three playings I would walk out of the class.
As a greek, I can't help imagining what a banger that song would be like 570 years ago.
Baklavaki
Cacıki
Dönerki
İstanbulki
@@komikediares Calm down
*Fun fact: several odd years ago, this song helped me correctly answer at least 2 questions on a Geography test. And for that, I say... "Sure, They Might Be Giants... but They Might Also Be Tutors. LOL. Thanks guys!"*
@Andy Roid To that I say "the sun is a mass of incandescent gas, a gigantic nuclear furnace"
Constantinople not Istanbul
Istanbul NOT Constantopal
Man wait till he sees here come the 123s/ABCs
TMBG always seemed to me to be just a bunch of teachers who formed a band.
i love how absolutely chaotic this animation. the weird king kong like policeman, the fights in the street, the car crashing into the building 4 separate times, the little business man running back and forth, and my favorite, the little drum guy bouncing up and down.
It feels like something I would have seen on TV as a kid when zapping through channels at like 1 AM
Reminds me of mtv2 or Cartoon Network in the 90’s.
it makes no absolute sense but it does in a weird way
Looks like Schoolhouse Rock on acid.
@@ValtharrYou probably did. This video was featured on the early 90s Mtv animation show called Liquid Television. Which is also where Beavis & Butthead started, as well as Aeon Flux.
the funnier fact I know about They Might be Giants is that in Terry Pratchett's book "Soul Music" there's a Dwarf band called "They're certainly Dwarfs" and I find it simply amazing.
Sir Terry Pratchett was a literary genius!
Lmao that's pretty funny
Lords and Ladies have mercy.. this one slipped past me. I am doubly ashamed
They might be giants is the best underrated band. Like seriously, they have more songs in an album that most bands make in their whole life. They’re gonna do it until they can’t anymore, so we all gotta appreciate them ❤️
particle man said, “ok triangle man is gonna have beef with everyone”
@@claranoelledancesbill cypher really do be like that.
Took me 40 years to realise how great they are.
fun fact: even in turkish it was once called "konstantiniyye" in official documents but known colloquially by the people as "istanbul"
That’s because that’s what it was called by the Greeks. But Turks can’t pronounce “Stanboli,” which means “to the city,” so Turks pronounced it “Istanbul.”
@@ferretyluvold Turkish didn't have stand-alone s or r in the beginning of the words which transformed "ramazan" to "ıramazan", "stampa" to "ıstampa", "stanbul to ıstanbul" etc.
In Hindi, we call the old Byzantine city 'Kunstuntuniya"
@@yesilpaprika The real point here is that it's always been called just "the city" by people who live there and who have business there, in whatever language, and the changing official names have always been a political thing. I think that's cool.
Con(STAN)tino(POL)is
I've never been more thrilled to see that the music video looks exactly like the song sounds.
I never paid attention to this song but for some reason I absolutely loved it during Five's fight in the donut shop
same
I’m watching it rn and I’m just looking for the song
Same
Same😄Awesome song.. Kids love dancing to this..
@@I-eat-minimum-wage-workers It's at the end of the the first episode.
Our social studies teacher in 6th grade always played the video of Tiny Toons with this song in the background. Stuck in my head ever since.
Wish I could find the original tiny toons for my kids
my social studies played this today in class (i have never heard of this song before today) it’s not 8:10pm and the song is STILL stuck in my head goddd
Yes 🙌🏻
that is an AWESOME childhood memory!
My dad won't stop playing this song. I'm gonna cry.
Lmao how old are you
@@rommul1389 20 LMAO
@@rommul1389Kosovo je Albania 🇹🇷
I also can't stop playing this song 😂😂😂
@@ErrRomanista NOT YOU TOO 😭😭😭😭
This song heard frequently at the airport in Istanbul.
Lol please be true
@@enarcmcfly sadly no 😢 unless I remember my Bluetooth speaker ofc
But not Constantinople
@@Bowiiihowdy every song played in constantinople
was played in istanbul not constantinople
so if you've played this song
in constantinople
it was played in istanbul
not possible
This song has driven me nuts for years. I knew the lines I knew were lyrics from a song, but I couldn't remember which one.
they have Google for that you know
Did the repetitive nature of "Istanbul not Constantinople" not give you some sort of clue ?
@@stephenm8415 This was years before google existed. I am a Xer after all.
@@blazingfire8794 Try searching the lyrics lol
@@stephenm8415 This is Constantinople, NOT Google
Lyrics if u want :)
Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Now it's Turkish delight on a moonlit night
Every gal in Constantinople
Lives in Istanbul, not Constantinople
So if you've a date in Constantinople
She'll be waiting in Istanbul
Even old New York was once New Amsterdam
Why they changed it I can't say
People just liked it better that way
So, take me back to Constantinople
No, you can't go back to Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works?
That's nobody's business but the Turks
Istanbul, Istanbul
Istanbul, Istanbul
Even old New York was once New Amsterdam
Why they changed it I can't say
People just liked it better that way
Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, oh Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works?
That's nobody's business but the Turks
So, take me back to Constantinople
No, you can't go back to Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works?
That's nobody's business but the Turks
Istanbul
Thanx.....I have heard this song for decades and always thought it was, "It's nobody's business but the church!" (Made sense to me because the church has long been involved in so many things which is none of its busness!)
You forgor about the Do Do, Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do, Do Do Do Do Do Do Do, Do Do Do Do Do Do
@@blackholeentry3489 the Turks killed every man woman and child in Constantinople then renamed it Istanbul
Some heros don't where cape
cringe song
Yorumlarda hiç Türk bulamadım,bu şarkıyı sıkılmadan saatlerce dinleyebilirim:)
The fiddle/violin at the beginning and end hits a special spot in my ears that releases so much dopamine I’m not even kidding
What a great song. Loved it in The Umbrella Academy. Spiffy Biffy.
1:12 "Dew-dew-dew dew-dew de-dewdewdewdew!"
OHHHHHHHHH AH OHHHHHHHH AH OHHHHHHHHHHH AH OHHHH- Istanbul
Istanbul.... ISTANBUL
Fun fact: Istanbul (Not Constantinople) is a 1990 swing-style song by They Might Be Giants. It was featured in a music video in the Tiny Toon Adventures episode Tiny Toon Music Television.
Other fact: It was a cover of a 1953 song recorded by The Four Lads.
It's a remake from a song recorded when my parents were children, you historically illiterate person who thinks nothing happened before your date of birth.
This Song is great something about how the rhythm changes and the irony of the lyrics
They Might Be Giants have one of the most well-known versions of this track - can you name the original quartet who recorded "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" in 1953? 🎙️🎶
The Four Lads did the original
@@volodymyrbilyk555 *You may have beaten me, Mr. Sabab, by about 15 minutes (BTW, well-played sir)... but here's a little bit of interesting trivia:*
*England's The Four Lads, very likely copied the main melody of their song from another older hit song... 1930's "Puttin' On the Ritz" (written by Irving Berlin & originally sung by a singer named Harry Richman). Several artists would eventually cover it, including Fred Astaire and TACO (among MANY others).*
@@andyroid5028 Four Lads were Canadian...
@@andyroid5028 Don't forget Peter Boyle and Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein!
@@andyroid5028 maybe you would have been first if you didnt type up that long ass reply
I found this song due to Tiny Toon Adventures featuring this & Particle Man in an episode and I became a fan ever since.
This was the first TMBG song I ever heard, back in 1992. That's the year I started listening to the Dr. Demento radio show, and he played a lot of their songs!
My brother and I grew up with Dr Demento. Dead Puppies, They're coming to take me away, so many twisted song lol
My son is over there on the couch studying for his AP history exam and he turns to me and says, "Mom, do you remember what the other name for Constantinople is?" Yes, son. Yes I do. Allow me to share this Gen X banger with you.
Perfection. He learned 'bout New York, too!
You know some of the riffs in this song are from 1600, like these guys really dug into music history to make this song.
they didnt lol, this is a cover of The Four Lads version from 1953
@@user-ng2lk5wv4p the beatles? /j
The silk street lucky four
@@rammingtime LOLLL
@@rammingtimeHe was not referring to the Beatles, he was referring to the English quartet “The Four Lads” who originally made this song, which Tmbg covered
They Might Be Giants is one of those bands you believe you've never heard, but listened to 7 of their songs throughout your whole life
I had to listen to this song because of a question I had on a quiz made think of the song. The question was "when the dutch came and created a large settlement it was called New Amsterdam. The city later in modern times became known as?" And this song came to my head right away lol
Yep. "Old New York"
It was the British that changed it to new York that's why there's a old York in england
@@VeryUnderstandabledudeand new zealand, no idea where the zealand came from
@@wtz_under Old Zealand is underneath new Zealand
@@wtz_under Zeeland, netherlands
For anyone wondering, Istanbul means "In the city", while Constantinople means "Constantine's City" which is not Constantine's city anymore.
That’s nobody’s business but the Turks
@@AndrewTBP I am a Turk
However as long as Emperor Constantine founded it, it will always be his city as Alexandria founded by Alexander the Great, etc. Turks renamed the city which was not theirs
@@memmori1 actually Constantine did not found Constantinople. It had already been renamed several times by then ranging from Byzantion to Secunda Roma to Nova Roma and on and on before Constantine even showed up to rename it.
Also cities belong to the people who live in them, so it truly is the business of the Turks.
It doesn't mean "in the city" as in being in the city, It means "to The city" or "towards The city" or even "at the city" as in dative. In Turkish, "şehre doğru", yönelme anlamı. Also if it's written as poli, it means a city but if its written as Poli then it means Istanbul.
Tiny Toons introduced me to This group and I'm forever grateful.
I am proud to say that after 20 years, I can still sing along, word-for-word. Timeless classic. Thanks, Google algorithm!
“And so they lived happily ever after : the end”
“can you pleaaasee tell me another story”
“goodbye and thank you for watching the umbrella academy”
- Narrator of the umbrella academy
Tiny Toon Adventures was the first time I ever heard this song.
Will always be the 'official' video to me. 😁
Same
Ditto
I thought this version was older than it is. I thought I remembered listening to this when I was little little - like my own personal Mandela effect. This says 1990 which would make me 9. Still a little kid but I thought I heard this as far back as I can remember. However I think what is happening is I am getting this mixed up with Taco's "Putting on the Ritz" . To my ear that song has a similar and was a big deal at the very young age that I have in mind. Both songs are covers from decades prior.
Same... back in EARLY 90s in a blockbuster
THIS IS LITERALLY STUCK IN MY HEAD!!!!!!
This song is covered in enough hooks to empty the ocean
I was in Istanbul (not Constantinople :P) last year, and there were super old photographs I found that were still labled Constantinople! Very cool!
This band is strangely deep but smothered in absurdity. Everything ends.
1:49 Man, this violin solo!!
Oh yeah❤❤❤
I first heard this song a first grader when Tiny Toons did an animated video with Plucky Duck and Hamilton pig! They also did a version of "Triangle Man". I will forever love this band, and the cartoon that introduced me to them! Cheers fellas!🎉😊
My English teacher(I think he was) showed us this song in my middle school years and I never forgot about it ever since. This song is a banger and will remain one of the best songs made❤
This song has been stuck in my head for years
Thw umbrella academy brought me here. Season 4 is out today so i thought lets listen to this again. Thank you number five 🙌
Sang this song in my head so I would not cry when I left my family as a kid to go meet my ship in Guam to go support Operation Desert Storm.
F your service you grunt and lackey
_Wow. You cried later, right? Seriously, it's not healthy to suppress those emotions. And BTW, thanks for fighting for the USA._
👍🏼🇺🇸
@@andyroid5028 I did the first night on my ship but not after that.
a fight breaks out at Umbrella Academy and this banger starts playing
everytime someone mentions constantinople or istanbul i think about this and i get so happy
One of my favorite teachers played this during the ottoman period and its the multimedia ones that leave the best impression
I only knew the instrumental version of this classic song, then I discovered this one with lyrics 😂👌
Istanbul is the unique, wonderful, great city of all time ❤🇹🇷
IT'S CONSTANTINOPLE 😡😡😡🤬🤬🤬
@@1Tuxedo_Cat1 no 😊 calm down greek
@@Tayselkenaleesshud lmao Im joking istanbul is turkish 😹
@@1Tuxedo_Cat1 we have no problem 💖
omg turk and greek debate that ended positively? 🤯
I like this video a lot, but I feel like a lot of people in the comments don't know this is a cover of a song from 1953.
It was a cover?
@@Tony_Baloney_69420 Yes, originally performed by The Four Lads.
the four lads were IT
@Neo Crusader Steve Funny
A lot slower
This song lives rent free in my head at all times
This song fits their vibe very well.
I did a tap dance to the music in the background. It was long before TMBG came out with this song. So naturally I must get my tap shoes out and tap away to this tune!
This song has been in my head since 1995 when I saw it on Cartoon Network
First heard it in '91 on Liquid Television. Was fully on board the TMBG train the following year with Apollo 18 and saw them live the first time as well. One of only two acts I will unquestionably try to see whenever they come by (Springsteen is the other).
I used to hear this on 3rd shift at Kroger in Arlington Tx tonight I shared this with my lady and our baby boy
💫Hi!! Oh,yes,what amazing song and impressive video!! Thank you so much for everything!!✨
I've been to Istanbul twice this year. And then Bob Dylan played this melody with the song When I Paint My Masterpiece at one of his Rough And Rowdy Ways concerts in Berlin this October. Thank you, Bobby ❤
Hey TMBG fans, you'll enjoy this info. Mark Marek (not to be confused with the same guy who was a total creep), later known for his work on the Henry and June segments of Nickelodeon's KaBlam!, created the stop-motion characters and set for this video. Mark had worked with the band before on their cover and label art for the EP (She Was A) Hotel Detective and later animated the music video for "Underwater Woman" for 2015's iteration of the Dial-A-Song project.
Now now..
I remember this song for many years ago. It used to play on the radio my mother had in the kitchen needed to hear something cheery today
Why is this song so fire though?
It’s too good!
I always loved this crazy song 😊 My youngest son is currently going to college with a girl who is from Istanbul. I just played this song for him for the first time. He seemed to enjoy it 😊
Listening to this in the new Istanbul airport right now 🔥
This song has been stuck in my head for a week because Ive been watching the Great War youtube series. Listening to it now finally feels like catharsis.
Believe it or not, this song actually helped me with a history final.
These people made so many beautiful songs I'm crying
I can say this song helped me on two history tests I forgot to study for.
Pure, absolutely pure, distilled 1990's in the form of animated Art.
As a Turkish this song is so good🇹🇷♥️🇺🇸
haklısın bacım
@@tanemsoyalan1839bacım ne alaka
Amerikayı skim. Natoda olmamıza rağmen bir savaş durumunda yunanistanı bize karşı destekleyecek bir ülkeyi neden ssevdiğinizi anlayamıyorum.
As an Earthling, I tend to agree with you.
No it’s not
When I was in 6th grade, I had a geography teacher that was obsessed with this song and I remember her playing it for the class. This was back around 2006. I haven’t listened to the song since, but I’ve always vaguely remembered the chorus in the back of my head.
Glad to hear it again.
remember when a few days before i was left go from an old school a long time ago, we were studying Constantinople, and i mentioned this song to a fairly older teacher of mine and i think i’ve hooked him on TMBG :3
On fire, bruh.. 🔥
one of my fav songs in the worlld!! love this band !1 twisiin a nother fav!!
this song is such a banger, I wish people played it more often
I heard this song first in ,, The Umbrella Academy " and I love it
Same lol
Yunanlıların ağlaya ağlaya dinledigi şarkı istanbuldan sevgiler
I still remember this entire song from playing “Just Dance” with my siblings on the Wii. I was like 13 at least. I’m 23 now. Time flies, and it’s kinda a bitter sweet feeling. Shout out to Istanbul my nigga.
I just noticed how strange this song is. I LOVE IT!
Sure but the bird is the word.
i love how funky the animation and song is
So Istanbul was actually Constantinople? Wow! Didn't know that. Thank you Might Be Giants!!
and will be again 'couse it is Цариграда!! Еј, ви то не можете ни замислити.
This song has no business going as hard as it does, but I'm glad it does.
The city was the sword
The city was the lance
The city was the golden gate
The city was the key
The city was the heavenly gate to all of rome
Inside Hagia Sofia we shall meet again
There's an Ant crawling up your back in the nighttime...
dont cry mate you wıll never take it back
Konstantinos, Dragazis, Paleologos....
@@olekcholewa8171 I like it when the doggy pees
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
This song has lived rent free in my head since the early 2000s. I was just recently introduced to the Taco version of Putting on the Ritz and kept switching back to this song when i would try to sing that one😅
I just love this band.
This video inspired at least one or two Psychonauts levels, or at least they were both responding to the same things, and it's beautiful.
I've had this stuck in my head all damn day!
I've had the tune stuck in my head for like ten years and just remembered the words recently
I heard this song on YT Shorts and looked it up, no way it's by TMBG. I used to listen to them a lot when I was a little kid, this is so surreal.
Greatest Thanksgiving song ever.
10th grade world history we had this playing upon entering class. And I had it stuck in my head now for 15 years.
I grew up with this song as my grandparents were from Constantinople/Instanbul.
I first heard this song on MTV in '91 as I am from Earth and despite what many may believe in their heart of hearts, TMBGs popularity is STILL limited to Earth.
ANINDA İSTANBUL,İNSTANBUL!
apparently one of this band's co founders's dad designed my high school (and is rumored in our school to have also designed prisons and committed suicide, both of which i'm just learning is false). thank you internet rabbit hole for bringing me to this masterpiece
Umbrella Academy brought me here. The songs been stuck in my head.
You have no good music taste
the absolute madness of early animated music videos where paying for animation was expected to maximize the value..
Remember folks, its Istanbul, not Constantinople
this whole music video is a fever dream
Thanks for this masterpiece
Love from Turkey 🇹🇷✨
Enormous hit in San Francisco on Live 105!
The energy from this song is WILD! I dig it lol
idk where i got the nostalgia for this song, I just have it
Animaniacs if you're GenX.
@@mcginnisjason4600 Tiny Toons. Along with Particle Man.
The fact a song from the 1990's is now popular in the mapping community is just wild. But considering it's the internet, anything can happen.
The original song is from 1953.
The name Is Constantinople ,in Greek=City of Constantinos, which was the Greek (actualy roman turned to orthodox Greek) emperor that built this city. For 1100 + years when every person going there would say he is going "Is Tin Poli", in greek εις την πόλη ="to the City". Everybody talked Greek, and the population was greek for 1100+ years. Turks concured the city in 1453 and although conquered more than 2 milion Greeks lived there until 1953 - when Turks organized provocative pogroms to throw out every single Greek. Then "Is Tin Poli" became Istanbul from the Turks. That is the story of the name.
I actually like this cover better than the original from the 60’s. I love that fiddle and tambourine.
Can we all take a moment to salute the drums in this song?
This song literally helped me on a test in high school, makes it even better.