Inspired by a post by James (with excellent links). My memory is set on "random association" most of the time.
My mother used to sing scraps of this, mostly enjoying the "That's nobody's business but the Turks" part. She was also on random association with her memory much of the time, and had a Greek-American boyfriend after her divroce and before her second marriage. He, in turn, had a father who was from a Dodecanese Island that had been owned sometimes by the Greeks, sometimes the Turks. When his wife would get upset at him and start throwing objects she would call him a Turk, and Bob related this story (all to frequently, I fear) to my mother it likely suggested the line to her. Neither Istanbul nor Constantinople came up in family conversation much otherwise, I don't recall.
I got together with that boyfriend, who thought of marrying my mother at one point, when he was quite old and I mentioned the story. He laughed and agreed that the story was correct. He was amazed that I remembered, as people often are, as will come up in the next memory post.
Showing my cultural deprivation, I'd not heard this original version of the song, and it had never occurred to me that the 1990 cover by "They Might be Giants" was a cover version.
ReplyDeleteMe, too, Douglas2.
ReplyDelete