Known covers:
This All Is The Rock 'n' Roll. Brigada S. 1992. Self-released
Songs Of Tom Waits. Dolphin Blue. 1995. Self-released demo (Germany)
Phondue. Bourbon Street Jazz Band. 1995. Zebralution
Belle Chase Hotel. Fossanova. August 23, 2000. Emi
Your Favorite Band Live. Red Elvises. September 12, 2000. Shoobah-Doobah
Bukowski Waits For Us - Vol. 1. Michael Kiessling. September 25, 2000. Buschfunk (Germany)
The Jive Kings With Measha Brüggergosman. Jive Kings. October, 2000. Tidemark 02 50879, Canada
The Carnival Saloon Live. The Carnival Saloon. October, 2001. Self-released (Ireland)
Kazik Staszewski "Piosenki Toma Waitsa". Kazik Staszewski. March, 2003. VIP Production / Luna Music: LUNCD 093-2 (in Polish)
Changes. Alicia Wiley. October 11, 2007. Sakhara Records
Dolphin Blue Live. Dolphin Blue. December, 2007. Rising Sun Productions (German CDR)

Waits performing "Telephone Call From Istanbul" taken from the Big Time concert video.
Recorded live at the Wiltern Theatre. Los Angeles/ USA November 9, 1987
and the Warfield Theatre. San Francisco/ USA November 5, 1987.
PolyGram Video (Island Visual Arts)/ Fries Home Video (Fries Entertainment Inc.), 1988.
With: Michael Blair, Ralph Carney, Greg Cohen, Marc Ribot and Willy Schwarz.
Stage show concept: Kathleen Brennan & Tom Waits. Directed by Chris Blum.

Notes:

⁽¹⁾ Telephone Call From Istanbul
- Tom Waits (1987): "Started as a title, then became just a junkyard for uh . . . one banjo and drums there. Got a little eastern slant on it. I don't know, beyond that. Frank is just started to plummet here; things are starting to fracture a bit." (Source: "From the set of Ironweed, Tom Waits talks with Rip Rense". New York Post: Rip Rense. Early 1987)
-Bill Forman (1987): "Waits' unconventional approach to recording doesn't end with his choice of instruments. "Telephone Call from Istanbul" goes rollicking along with banjo, guitar, bass, drums and the faint ghost of Waits improvising away on that cheesy Farfisa. When the track is nearly over, the Farfisa kicks in full strength, catapulting the listener into some hellish Turkish rollerskating rink. "I usually don't like to isolate the instruments," says Waits, explaining the appearance of the ghost early in the track. "On that song, I pulled out the Farfisa and then just put it in very hot at the end, just so it sounded kind of Cuban or something."(Source: "Better Waits Than Ever" Music & Sound Output (Canada/ USA), by Bill Forman. Vol. 7, No. 11. October, 1987)

⁽²⁾ Paint the town (blue), paint oneself (blue)
- To go on a wild spree in a town or city; to celebrate wildly (Source: Dictionary Of American Slang, Wentworth/ Flexner).
- Notice the same phrase being used in Depot, Depot, 1974: "And outside the midnight wind is blowing Sixth Avenue, I'm gonna paint myself blue, At the depot."

⁽³⁾ Never trust a man in a blue trench coat:
- Q: Your line "Never trust a man in a blue trench coat," would that be a reference to Leonard Cohen and his "Famous Blue Raincoat?" TW: "No. It's just words, y'know? No deeper meaning there." (Source: "Sonicnet Full Chat Transcript" Sonicnet chat, hosted by Michael Goldberg & Gil Kaufman. Date: April, 1999)

⁽⁴⁾ Dead: adj. [19C] very drunk. [abbr. dead drunk] (Source: Cassel's Dictionary of Slang. Jonathon Green 1998. Cassel & Co., 2000)

⁽⁵⁾ Beula(h) (land):
- Bible (Isa. lxii. 4). The land of Israel in the Old Testament 2a. The land of peace described in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Houghton Mifflin - Third Edition)
- In Pilgrim's Progress it is that land of heavenly joy where the pilgrims tarry till they are summoned to enter the celestial City; the Paradise before the resurrection. (Source: "The First Hypertext Edition of The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable", E. Cobham Brewer. © 1997-99 Bibliomania.com Ltd).
- Also mentioned in "Take Care Of All Of My Children" (I'll be goin' up to Beulah land), "Take It With Me" (We fell asleep on Beaula's porch)

⁽⁶⁾ Oh, Chantilly lace and a pretty face: Quoting: Chantilly Lace. Words and music by J. P. Richardson, ©1958. Originally performed by the Big Bopper (J. P. Richardson) in 1958. Recorded in 1972 by Jerry Lee Lewis. Chantilly Lace: "Hello, Baby! Yeah, this is the Big Bopper speaking! Oh, you sweet thing! Do I what? Will I what? Oh baby, you know what I like! Chantilly lace and a pretty face, and a ponytail hangin' down A wiggle in her walk and a giggle in her talk Make the world go 'round There ain't nothing in the world like a big-eyed girl To make me act so funny, spend my doggone money I feel real loose, like a long necked goose, like a - Wow baby, that's what I like! Huh? Will I what? Do I what? Will I what? Can't never tell, baby Ha-ha-ha-ha, I might But honey, you know what I like Chantilly lace and a pretty face, and a ponytail a-hangin' down A wiggle in her walk and a giggle in her talk, Lord! They're gonna make the world go 'round There ain't nothing in the world like a big-eyed girl To make me act so funny, spend my doggone money I feel real loose, like a long necked goose, like a - Wow baby, that's what I like! Huh? Ha-ha-ha Huh? What's that? Pick you up at eight? And don't be late? You gotta be jokin', woman I thought you might pick ME up at eight and don't be late It don't make no difference, baby, you know what I really like! Chantilly lace and a pretty face, and a ponytail hangin' down A wiggle in her walk and a giggle in her talk, Lord! They're gonna make the world go 'round There ain't nothing in the world like a big-eyed girl To make me act so funny, spend my doggone money I feel real loose, like a long necked goose, like a - Wow baby, that's what I like! Wooo! Ha-ha-ha Honey, you're tearin' me up on this telephone I swear I don't know what I'm gonna do with you You yap and yap and yap and yap and yap But when you break it all down, you know what I like Chantilly lace and a pretty face, and a ponytail hangin' down A wiggle in her walk and a giggle in her talk They're gonna make the world go 'round."