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"Constantinople" is a track by The Residents, first released on 1978's Duck Stab! EP. It is now one of The Residents' most well-known tracks and is the opening track on the album Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen.
History[]
Still from the "Constantinople" video created for Icky Flix, 2001
The song was recorded in October of 1977 for inclusion on the Duck Stab! EP. It was later re-released as the opening track to the Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen album.
It was rehearsed during the Assorted Secrets sessions, for inclusion in a planned 10th Anniversary concert which was later abandoned in favor of The Mole Show tour (which did not feature "Constantinople" in the set list).
As a result, the song was first performed live between 1985 and 1987 as part of The 13th Anniversary Show, where it was re-arranged to be much slower, before suddenly shifting to the song's original speed for the final verse.
After this, the song was not performed live by the group until the Adobe Disfigured Night show in 1997 (where it featured once again in a much slower arrangement).
In 1990, funk metal band Primus covered "Constantinople" and "Hello Skinny". The growing popularity of Primus led these songs to achieve further recognition.
"Constantinople" saw its first official studio re-recording as part of The Residents' Icky Flix project in 2000, alongside a newly-produced music video. This version is largely faithful to the original in structure, whilst changing the vocals to a more worried tone, and giving a tribal feeling to the instrumentals.
The music video featured a computer-generated fat naked man falling from the sky, as well as the head of The Butcher from the Gingerbread Man CD-ROM singing the lyrics, as image cutouts of The Residents interacted around him. This video was uploaded to YouTube in September of 2009 by Radial by The Orchard, and soon attracted over a million viewers.
The Residents performed "Constantinople" live as part of the corresponding Icky Flix Live tour in 2001, in a version featuring a saxophone solo from Mr. Skull.
In 2010 the song was performed by Randy Rose and Už Jsme Doma at the Moravian Meeting live show, in the song's most faithful live re-construction to date.
As part of the D*ck S*ab project in 2012, "Constantinople" was remixed to be much more melodic and beautiful sounding.
From 2014 to 2015 The Residents performed a much slower version of the song on the Shadowland tour, until collaborator Eric Drew Feldman asked if they could play something closer to the original, to which the group agreed. For the final leg of the tour in 2016, the group played a faster version similar to the original, featuring Randy Rose on bass-drum.
In 2018, the song was re-recorded by Phillip Stranger for inclusion on the I Am A Resident! official-fan-cover-remix album.
A new arrangement of the song was debuted in early 2021 as part of the I Am A Resident! 2021 campaign and a short time later this arrangement was performed live in the studio by the group for the TV special Duck Stab! Alive!, followed by a live on stage version included as the final track in the Dog Stab tour.
Lyrics[]
Here I come, Constantinople Here I come, Constantinople I am coming, Constantinople Here I come Here I come, Constantinople Here I come, Constantinople I am coming, Constantinople Here I come
All the leaves are off of the oak and All the sheep have followed the spoken Word, I'm coming, Constantinople Here I come So I stand out in the open All my friends are with you, I hope and Pray I'm coming, Constantinople Here I come
Here I come, Constantinople Here I come, Constantinople I am coming, Constantinople Here I come Here I come, Constantinople Here I come, Constantinople I am coming, Constantinople Here I come
I'm coming, I'm coming, Constantinople Here I come, Constantinople Here I come Here I come, I'm coming Here I come, it's been a good life, Constantinople, but I'm ready I'm ready for you, so here I come I can't wait to get there I got to get there soon, Constantinople I'm coming with my head high I'm not coming on my knees I want to see you I got to be there now so here I come I'm wondering one more time Constantinople, here I come
Here I come, Constantinople Here I come, Constantinople I am coming, Constantinople Here I come Here I come, Constantinople Here I come, Constantinople I am coming, Constantinople Yeah
List of releases[]
- Duck Stab! (1978) [Version 1]
- Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen (1978) [Version 1]
- Please Do Not Steal It! (1979) [Version 2]
- Assorted Secrets (1984) [Version 3]
- Live In The USA! 13th Anniversary Tour - Featuring Snakefinger (1986) [Version 4]
- 13th Anniversary Show - Live In Holland - Featuring Snakefinger (1987) [Version 5]
- Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses (1997) [Version 2]
- 25 Years of Eyeball Excellence (1998) [Version 2]
- 13th Anniversary Show - Live In Tokyo - Featuring Snakefinger (1999) [Version 6]
- Icky Flix (2001) [Version 2] [Version 7]
- Petting Zoo (2002) [Version 2]
- Live! ...On The Outskirts (2002) [Version 8]
- Kettles Of Fish On The Outskirts Of Town (2003) [Version 8] [Version 9]
- Adobe Disfigured Night (2009) [Version 10]
- Icky Flix Live (2009) [Version 8]
- 13th Anniversary Show - Ritz NY - Jan 16, 1986 (2010) [Version 11]
- Brava (2010) [Version 12]
- D*ck S*ab (2012) [Version 10] [Version 13]
- The Grove Street Studio (1978-80 Embracing Visibility) (2014) [Version 14]
- The 13th Anniversary Show - Cleveland (2014) [Version 15]
- Disfigured Night (2016) [Version 10]
- 80 Aching Orphans (2017) [Version 2]
- I Am A Resident! (2018) [Version 16]
- Moravian Meeting (2020) [Version 17]
- Icky Flix (2020) [Version 7]
- Duck Stab! Alive! (2021) [Version 18]
- LS1 - Sketches For A Live Show (2022) [Version 19]
List of versions[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1977 Version (2:33)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 1977 Version Edit (2:22)
- ↑ 1982 Rehearsal Version (2:10)
- ↑ 1986 Live 'USA' Version (4:47)
- ↑ 1986 Live Holland Version (4:40)
- ↑ 1985 Live Version (2:41)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 2000 Studio Version (2:25)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 2001 Live Version (2:43) Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name ":2" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid<ref>tag; name ":2" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 1997 Live Version Edit (1:41)
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 1997 Live Version (1:55)
- ↑ 1986 'Ritz' Live Version (4:38)
- ↑ 2001 'Brava' Live Version (2:36)
- ↑ 2012 Version (2:36)
- ↑ 1977 Version Edit (0:28)
- ↑ 1986 'Cleveland' Version (4:50)
- ↑ 2017 'Phillip Stranger' Version (3:13)
- ↑ 2010 Live Version (4:21)
- ↑ 2021 live-in-the-studio version (3:49)
- ↑ 1982 instrumental studio sketch (2:30)
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Duck Stab! EP (1978) Side A: |
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Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen (1978) Side A: Duck Stab! |