Actually it's not so self-explanatory. I know, as someone living in Istanbul, that I was quite struck the first time I'd heard this song. Colin Meloy has a profound knowledge of some legends that I'd always thought only people really interested in Istanbul would know. The story is actually a Hero and Leander story, a tale told in many versions and times, this time adapted into Ottoman Empire setting.
Meloy uses heavy and rather accurate imagery to cast the vision of a Renaissance Constantinople in your mind, with its "dirty streets" and "minarets". Hero, the daughter of the emperor in the original story, nevertheless an upper-class figure, is betrothed to an appropriate royal person; but she in truth loves Leander.
Now a brief intermission. Leander may be listening to the "melodies" coming from his lover's wedding, and may have committed suicide. But here is what I think happens, according to the poem.
Each night Leander swims across the Bosporus (the strait that separates Asia and Europe) to reach his lover. Hero, for reasons not relevant, is kept in a tower amidst the Bosporus. They spend the night there and before dawn, Leander checks out. Hero holds out a guiding light for Leander to find the tower without getting lost. But one night Hero falls asleep and Leander loses his direction in the water and eventually drowns. A deranged Hero, finding out about her lover "painted by the Bosporus in blue" throws herself from the tower and dies as well. Sad story.
But I think in this version Hero doesn't fall asleep but is taken away by her father for the match by the magistrate, that's why Leander is drowned. At least that's what I think when I hear it.
One last thing: Maiden Tower had been used as a lighthouse until some decades ago.
Actually it's not so self-explanatory. I know, as someone living in Istanbul, that I was quite struck the first time I'd heard this song. Colin Meloy has a profound knowledge of some legends that I'd always thought only people really interested in Istanbul would know. The story is actually a Hero and Leander story, a tale told in many versions and times, this time adapted into Ottoman Empire setting.
Meloy uses heavy and rather accurate imagery to cast the vision of a Renaissance Constantinople in your mind, with its "dirty streets" and "minarets". Hero, the daughter of the emperor in the original story, nevertheless an upper-class figure, is betrothed to an appropriate royal person; but she in truth loves Leander.
Now a brief intermission. Leander may be listening to the "melodies" coming from his lover's wedding, and may have committed suicide. But here is what I think happens, according to the poem.
Each night Leander swims across the Bosporus (the strait that separates Asia and Europe) to reach his lover. Hero, for reasons not relevant, is kept in a tower amidst the Bosporus. They spend the night there and before dawn, Leander checks out. Hero holds out a guiding light for Leander to find the tower without getting lost. But one night Hero falls asleep and Leander loses his direction in the water and eventually drowns. A deranged Hero, finding out about her lover "painted by the Bosporus in blue" throws herself from the tower and dies as well. Sad story.
But I think in this version Hero doesn't fall asleep but is taken away by her father for the match by the magistrate, that's why Leander is drowned. At least that's what I think when I hear it.
One last thing: Maiden Tower had been used as a lighthouse until some decades ago.