Constantinople

The Residents

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 follow 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


Lyrics submitted by JofaGuht

Constantinople song meanings
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15 Comments

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  • +1
    General CommentConstantinople is the original name of Istanbul, the capital of Turkey. It comes from Constantine, the name of its king back in the ancient times. So this is obviously a place from the past. Now what’s left of this place is slowly withering away. So answers the phrase ‘all the leaves fall off the oak’. Now that is symbolically capturing all beautiful things that wither away from the past. Like ‘all the sheep follow the spoken word’ that means that people follow everything now, and that’s how it all withered. It’s saying that the past was a much more free place. Constantinople is not the place this guy escaping to. Constantinople is something that was and is nevermore. That’s what the city is symbolizing the past. The phrase ‘all my friends are with you’ is saying that all his friends are there in the hopefully in the past, the place he is escaping to. So pretty much he’s trying to escape from the present to the past, to what once was. And he’s escaping to a place that doesn’t exist. It’s kind of sad if you look at it from that angle. The other angle, which is similar is him bringing up past. Making the past the present. That angle may not be more happy, but certainly more motivational
    JofaGuhton June 21, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General CommentI was wrong. I saw the video and thought about it a little but more but it is actually about the afterlife. The sheep following the spoken word is religion, and all my friends are with you I hope and pray is also a true thing of seeing your friends in Heaven. He also says at the end "I'm not coming on my knees" means he's not going to die in vain and "i've had a good life"
    JofaGuhton April 15, 2003   Link
  • +1
    General CommentPrimus's version of this song kicks ass!
    BogFrogon July 03, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General CommentReminds of Sailing To Byzantium by Yeats.
    DaFaceon May 23, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Commentwtg Jofa on really looking for meaning in this great song. u did well to make sense of it, even if u were initially "wrong."
    sanjuro04on September 26, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Commentwtg Jofa on really looking for meaning in this great song. u did well to make sense of it, even if u were initially "wrong."
    sanjuro04on September 26, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Commentwtg Jofa on really looking for meaning in this great song. u did well to make sense of it, even if u were initially "wrong."
    sanjuro04on September 26, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Commentwow i only clicked once. i swear.
    sanjuro04on September 26, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Commentyeah, i thought your second conclusion was the obvious one, jofa, but our first one makes sense too.

    with all the deeper meanings, though, this song still remains the damn creepiest song i've ever heard.
    InsectsAndAngelson February 20, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General CommentPrimus's version of this song kicks ass!
    BogFrogon July 03, 2006   Link

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