Istanbul not Constatinople. You mean TMBG didn't ...

Istanbul, Not Constantinople

Who knew? They Might Be Giants' biggest hit "Istanbul, Not Constantinople" was a cover of one originally done by The Four Lads in 1953.

You could have knocked us both over with a feather.  Seriously.  The song seemed so much like a They Might Be Giants song, we didn't even look and just ... assumed the hit peppered Flood album was all theirs.

Then we found a small reference on the internet and our reality took a total warp.

Who are these "Four Lads" and why do I keep thinking about my Grandmother when I hear the band name?  1953 ... before Rock and Roll hit the big time, before Elvis and Bill Haley and the Comets had recorded anything popular, 4 guys - ahem- LADS - perhaps a barbershop quartet threw this song down.  A year later in 1954 it wouldn't have been possible given the explosion of Rock and Roll, or it would have been different for this pre-Rock hit.

The Two Lads ...

They Might be Lads?

So ... we had to check out the two versions.  Can a song from 1953 be better (or equivalent) to the revamped version by They Might Be Giants? It was like finding out the dirt on the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy, somehow.  I know covers are common, but this?!  Say it isn't so, Joe!  A few days later a box from Amazon came and we decided to do a head to head.  At least They Might Be Giants can have done something amazing with it and maintain everything, right?  When the box came we tore it open and practically ran to the CD player.  Ok, maybe not that hasty, but we did play it within a couple of days of getting the albums.

Age before beauty in our lineup.

The Four Lads - A Product of their era ...

Istanbul was the best one, and very different than the others.

"Sounds like the black and white episodes of I dream of Jeannie."  Cigarettes, martinis and borderline racist 50's sight gags all assaulted us from our cultural memories.  This song would have been enjoyed by Don Draper between cigarettes, drinking, and drawing up ads.  Followed soon by memories of Mitch Miller singalongs on a grandparent's console system with the Danish Modern styling.

The harmonies were phenomenal - instrumentation was fun, and didn't take away from the singers, but definitely from the early 1950's when big band hadn't quite played itself out, Jazz was a competing genre, and Rock and Roll was still being worked out.  The song's tricks such as "zany" instrumentation, overly echoey sound, as common with mono recordings, and the slow pacing so as to be intelligible on AM radio, all rooted the song in the era in which it was recorded.  Pre-rock white people pop.

Despite that it was a product of its era that didn't stand the test of time, we liked this version.  We can see why TMBG picked it up and ran with it.  All it needed was some fresh arranging and modern gimmicks to bring it up to date.

They Might Be Giants - Hate to say ... A Product of their era ...

Istanbul was the most refined, but it fit really well in
the whole song lineup.  Who'd know but the band?

The song started out quieter and more simply, gradually building to the full melody.  But what really surprised us, if the Four Lads really did write and perform this originally, TMBG sang it straight with modern instrumentation and an arrangement that accommodated the "two lads" singing and simpler harmonies. 

In fact, at this point it was as if The Four Lads did a Freaky Friday and took over They Might Be Giants, yet followed the guidance of their 1990's producer.

We both have to admit the performance was faster, had more bounce and was a lot more fun.  But could that simply be our expectations and tastes borne of this era?  If we were 40 years older "get off of our lawn" types, would we find the balance between Big Band and droll (or Rock-and Droll?) comedy better served with the other guys? 

Conclusions

She says:  Hands Down They Might Be Giants carried the day.
He says:  Yes, TMBG won, but it was a pyrrhic victory - I like the song less, I feel they were a lot less creative with it than I thought, though it did seem like it was a song that fit very well into their whole theme.

We went back and listened to both of the albums.The Four Lads did many songs, but none sounded like Istanbul, while TMBG had it blending in with their entire "Flood" album better. Though Istanbul was the most refined and tightest song on the album, it was still was closer to the core for them.  So we do have to say that They Might Be Giants won, but by a hair.  If somehow musical tastes reversed and we went from 1990's to the 1950's in our DeLorean, The Four Lads might have carried the day.  It was far closer than it should have been.

Congratulations, They Might Be Giants, you carried the day!  Barely.