Constantinople

At my Mexican prep school, I teach, among a number of other subjects, the year-long World History sequence for first-year students in the multicultural track (who are equivalent to American 10th graders). The course is serious and dense with information, but I try to keep a fun vein running through it as well.

The city that gets the most attention in the course, more than Paris or London even, is Constantinople/Istanbul - the gateway between East and West, Asia and Europe, Islam and Christianity. Because it features so prominently, I get a chance to use two delightful geography songs, the spelling song "C-O-N-S-T-A-N-T-I-N-O-P-L-E" from Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra (1928) and "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" by the Four Lads (1953). When was the last time there was a pop geography song?