Listen to They Might Be Giants’ ‘Istanbul’ from The Umbrella Academy’s doughnut shop fight scene

They Might Be Giants ‘Istanbul (Not Constantinople)’ adds suitable comedy to The Umbrella Academy‘s doughnut shop fight scene

They Might Be Giants ‘Istanbul (Not Constantinople)’ was featured on the first episode of the new Netflix superhero series The Umbrella Academy this week.

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The song was played while Number 5 is at Griddy’s Doughnuts fighting the army of guys with machine guns, and destroying the restaurant. The song added a suitable amount of a slapstick feel to the scene.

Istanbul’ (Not Constantinople’) was first released in 1953 by the Canadian quartet The Four Lads.

Its most popular version, though, was recorded by alternative rock band They Might Be Giants. That cover was released in 1990 on their third studio album Flood. An album that eventually sold more than one million copies.

Since then, that version of the song has also been featured in a huge number of movies and TV series. Including The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Cold Case, Raising Hope, and Bunheads.

The Umbrella Academy is a 10-episode web series released on Netflix yesterday, and based on the Dark Horse Comics series.

It stars Ellen Page, Tom Hopper, Emmy Raver-Lampman, David Castañeda, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, Mary J. Blige, Cameron Britton, Colm Feore and Adam Godley.

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Listen to They Might Be Giants ‘Istanbul (Not Constantinople)‘ in the video below. For more of their cool songs, the 19-track album Flood is on the Spotify widget below that.

As for Griddy’s Doughnuts, The Umbrella Academy crew refurbished an actual old-time diner on 1187 Queen St West in Toronto for that cool looking set.

Related Reading: Lindsey Stirling’s ‘Phantom of the Opera‘ showed up on new Netflix web series The Umbrella Academy

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About Michelle Topham

I'm a Brit-American journalist, former radio DJ at 97X WOXY, and Founder/CEO of Leo Sigh. I'm also obsessed with music, anime, manga, and K-dramas. Help!

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