Original version is from the 50s or thereabouts.

Popularized by the Four Lads.

My grandpa had that song on a greatest Hits of the 50's tape that I loved, and I was so surprised when everyone kept talking about the TMBG's version as if it were a new song.

My mother had a 78rpm record of some 40s/50s group doing the song.

I remember driving my mom somewhere while I was playing a mix tape in my car which included a bunch of TMBG songs. She was just half-listening until "Istanbul" came on, then she started singing along. I had no clue it was a cover until she said she knew it from when she was in high school.

My daughter has a whole dance routine to the TMBG version that she learned at the YMCA last summer.

I remember driving my mom somewhere while I was playing a mix tape in my car which included a bunch of TMBG songs. She was just half-listening until "Istanbul" came on, then she started singing along. I had no clue it was a cover until she said she knew it from when she was in high school.

wait, I thought that was me and my mom. Did she then go on to tell you about what a great song, "SH-Boom" is?

Hee! No, she knows that, through my oldies-loving brother, I'm probably more familiar with songs from the '50s than she is. (I actually stumped the oldies station DJ in Milwaukee when I was in college by asking if he could play "When You Wish Upon a Star" by Dion and the Belmonts. He'd never heard of it, while I had it on one of my mix tapes!)

(Actually, Mom is pretty open to newer songs, too. I was playing a concert album by Poi Dog Pondering, and she really got into some of the jazzy numbers as well as the ballads, so I made her a mix CD of those. I avoided the rock songs, especially the ones with swear words in them.)

I know the entire Johnny Mathis ouevre by heart, thanks to Mom's Wednesday night choir-practice during the 70's. My dad would listen and sing along, and would do the feet-on-feet dance thing with my sister and I.

Also, the Kingston Trio.

LOVE those memories.

Er, books. So...I have 4 more weeks off to recoup from surgery. Anyone read anything good in the dark fantasy/fantasy, paramormal or paranormal romance lines? Or anything good elsewhere; I'm a ho. Any stand-out hisorical non-fic or bios?

Oh, I read a history book on the 20's-40's the other day which detailed the Great Depression, and made me feel strangely better about the current econ situation. It was BAD (and yo, the similarities are so interesting to read about) but it wasn't as OMGWTFBBQ awful as I had believed from my sketchy understanding.

Heh, I think I just coined a new word: "paramormal" = the Stefanie Meyers style of writing

Also, the Kingston Trio.

I got the love of the Trio from my dad. Same Milwaukee DJ was surprised when I asked if he'd play "The MTA."

Er, books. So...I have 4 more weeks off to recoup from surgery. Anyone read anything good in the dark fantasy/fantasy, paramormal or paranormal romance lines? Or anything good elsewhere; I'm a ho. Any stand-out hisorical non-fic or bios?

For paranormal romances, have you read Dara Joy yet? Her Matrix of Destiny series was sadly curtailed by legal conflicts with her publisher, but the three books that were published are terrific: Knight of a Trillion Stars, Rejar, and Mine to Take. I love how the first one starts out in modern-day America and, after a trip to an SF convention, ends up on a different planet.