The Beatles in Springfield !

Matt Groening and his cronies on The Simpsons team must have a bad case of Beatlemania!! There are hundreds of subtle and not-so-subtle references on the hit show... here are but a few!!

1. All three remaining Beatles have guest-starred on The Simpsons.

2. In the episode where Homer eats hot chilli and starts hallucinating, he comes across this strange creature in a desert which says, "Goo goo g'joob!" which really freaks him out.

3. In the episode where Homer goes hippie, the theme song at the end is very psychedelic.. Homer sings "Uptown Girl" over it.. and at the very end he says, "I buried Flanders !" Izzy adds: The start of the credit sounds extremely similar to the beginning of the song"Love You To". John adds: The rhythm track of the song is exactly the same as Tomorrow Never Knows.

4. The 'Be Sharps' episode, about Homer's barbershop quartet, is packed with Beatles references.. these are the ones I can remember!
    a) George Harrison guest-stars.
    b) When the 'Be Sharps' record their first single, 'Baby On Board' their producer walks into the studio and says, "Gentlemen, you have just recorded your first hit record", just like George Martin did when the Beatles recorded "Please Please Me".
    c) When Barney replaces Chief Wiggum in the group, their fans shout "Wiggum forever, Barney never!" just like they did when Ringo replaced Pete Best.
    d) Homer is convinced to hide the fact he's married to Marge like John did to Cynthia.
    e) The Be Sharps first album is called 'Meet the Be Sharps' with black and white photo of them in black skivvies, like the cover of "Meet the Beatles". Homer appears with his back facing the camera on the back cover like Paul on Sgt Pepper.
    f) The Be Sharps are welcomed at JFK Airport with thousands of screaming fans.
    g) Barney goes out with a 'japanese experimental artist', ie a Yoko look-alike.
    h) Bart says, "Did you stuff up like the Beatles and say you were bigger than Jesus?" Homer replies, "Oh all the time. In fact that was the name of our second album." The cover is just like Abbey Road , except they're walking on water.
    i) Barney and the Yoko lookalike record an 'experimental piece'... it goes, "Number Eight... (Barney burps)... Number Eight... .."
    j) When the cracks are starting to show in the Be Sharps, they record a song is called "C. Everett Koop" and they sing "koop koop a doop" (like goo goo g'joob!)    k) They give a rooftop concert (at Moe's) when they reunite, wearing the exact same things that the Beatles did. The police give them a hard time.
    l) Homer says, "I'd like to thank you on behalf of the group and I hope we passed the audition." just like John did.
    m) There's also their press conference at Idlewild Airport , where one of the reporters asks Skinner if he's the "funny one."

5. The family is visiting a teacher 'Edutainment' show. Principal Skinner says, "Don't go too far if you want to see cafeteria workers in Beatle wigs playing tennis-racquet guitar!"

6. In the 'Dental plan.. Lisa needs braces!' episode, Lisa hallucinates when she goes under anaestetic. It's very Yellow Submarine-ish... at the end, the four cartoon Beatles sail past in their sub, and say, "Look.... it's Lisa in the sky! No diamonds though.."

7. In the episode where Bart becomes Mr Burns's heir, Marge and Homer visit 'Conformo', a brainwashing specialist. He lists his clients... "Peter Fonda, well, that was a heartbreaker. But I did get Paul McCartney out of Wings!" Homer: "You idiot! He was the most talented one!!"

8. The Simpson family visit a wax museum on a boiling hot day. The tour guide says, "And here's The Beatles how they appeared on the Ed Sullivan show." and gestures towards guitars lying in a pool of melted wax.

9. Bart has to do community service at the retirement home, because he wrecked Springfield 's chances of hosting the Olympics. He releases the old people outside.. Can't Buy Me Love plays and they frolic just like in the field scene in A Hard Day's Night! Even the Beatle jump! (The old guy with the beard does Ringo's little jump then topples over.) While the credits are playing, a record called A Bart Day's Night is shown, with Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa taking the places of the Beatles.

10. When Paul and Linda guest-star...
    a) Lisa tells Apu that she ran away, and Paul says, "What? She's Leaving Home?" Later, Linda says "Whenever we're in Springfield , we like to be in Apu's garden in the shade" Paul says he met Apu during the Maharishi days. Apu: "Back then I was known as the 5th Beatle." Later, he sings "Sgt Pepper" really badly.
    b) Towards the end, a pig accidentally gets shot out of a cannon type thing. Just like in "I Am The Walrus"... "See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly." 

11. There's an episode called Monty Can't Buy Me Love.

12. In the episode where Ringo guest-stars... Mr.Burns: "Ringo?" Smithers: "He was the drummer for a combo called The Beatles." Mr.Burns: "Oh yes, I seem to remember them wailing on the old Sullivan show. What was Ed thinking?"

12. One of the graves in The Simpsons Halloween special says 'Paul McCartney' (As part of the "Paul is Dead" rumor!).

13. When a scientist analyzes an eyelash for DNA (in Who Shot Mr.Burns Part II) a bunch of last names go by really quickly... including Starr, Harrison, and McCartney.

14. Homer and Marge have dinner at Apu's house. Apu looks through his records..."Shankar.....Shankar.....Shankar.....ah! Here we go!" and he pulls out a record named the Concert Against Bangladesh.

15. In "Lemon of Troy", some kids from Shelbyville steal a lemon tree from Springfield . At one point, Bart tries to get the tree back but pretending he is from Shelbyville. To disguise himself, he dresses in a Beatle wig. One of the Shelbyvillian kids then says something like "And his hair looks like a Beatle's

16. In one of the couch scenes, The Simpsons plus many of the townspeople recreate the Sgt Pepper cover. Homer (wearing blue like Paul!) turns around....

17. Krusty has a picture in his office of him with the Beatles.

18. Bart and Lisa try to get Sideshow Bob to confess to a crime. Bart: "You were just Barlow's lackey." Lisa: "You were Ronnie to Nancy !" "Sonny to Cher !" "Ringo to the rest of the Beatles!"

 19. There's a homeless shelter in Springfield called, "Helter Shelter".

20.  In the episode where Homer gets in trouble for sexual harrassment, the TV news show rapidly shows a list of apologies at the end.  If you slow down the tape, it says "The Beatles did not reunite to enter kickboxing competions".

21.  Homer, Moe and Barney are at Moe's drinking and smoking cigars.  Moe: "Here's to Homer!"  Barney: "And to Sgt Pepper who's growing out the middle of his back!"  Moe: "Barney, you gotta take the plastic off those before you smoke them!"

22.  In the episode where a toy company sponsors the school to do market research, Lisa discovers a secret spying room in a broom closet, and she calls the police.  A mop falls on her head when Chief Wiggum enters.  Lisa: "You have to believe me!"  Wiggum:  "Yeah right, moptop, and I'm Ed Sullivan."

23.  The Simpsons go to a 50's diner that has newspapers from the 50's on the walls. One of the larger headlines is "BEATLES FORMED!"

24.  A young woman named Becky temporarily moves in with the family. Marge become paranoid and starts to suspect that Becky is trying to kill her and steal her family away so she attacks her. She goes on trial for this. One of the judges tries to establish whether she is unstable by asking, "Did you ever have an unhealthy fixation on Ringo Starr?"

25.  In one episode Homer becomes a sort of artist and claims he always wanted ot be one. As a 'schoolgirl' he'd paint pictures of Ringo Starr. Marge then complains that that was her childhood and Homer exclaims, "Marge, I think I'd know my own life from yours!"

26.  There is a Simpsons soundtrack called The Yellow Album. The cover looks like Sgt Pepper only with the Springfield residents

27. Paul McCartney is in the line for the ship headed to "Second Earth" after the earth fails, because Homer screws up Y2K. George and Ringo are on the Suicide rocket. Also, Rev. Lovejoy says, "The earth wouldn't blow up if God liked your miniskirts and Beatle boots!" To which flanders remarks, "Dang-diddly-ang that John Lennon!"

28.  A producer says "We've used pop music to recruit for the navy!" and  shows a picture of the Beatles in their Sgt. Pepper outfits, pointing weapons at people.

29.  Homer says, "...they're just nonsense words, like 'rama lama ding dong', or give peace a chance."

30.  In the Simpsons PC game there is a furniture designer named "Yoko Onasis", and a toy box called the "Magical Mystery Box".

31.  Springfield wins the "world's fattest town record", and Dr. Hibbert says, "Finally, a record we can call our own!" to which Captain McCallistair replies,"Now we can stop all the lies," and points to a billboard that reads ' Springfield : Birthplace of The Beatles!'
 

32.  On the episode called "Behind the Laughter", a bunch of screaming girls watch a tape of Bart dancing to a badly-sung version of Twist and Shout.

33.  On a Halloween episode, The Devil appears in Flanders-form, and confesses that his deep-down eternally-long secret was to be one of the Beatles.

34.  One episode (not sure which one?) is dedicated to Linda McCartney.

35.  And the "Hunka Hunka Burns In Love" episode is dedicated to George Harrison.

36.  In the beginning of the episode that Lisa is taught by Little Vicky to become a tap dancer, Homer is at the eye doctors. He looks at glasses and the lady says, "This one is very popular with celebrities, such as Jim Morrison and Yoko Ono." Homer says, "Ewww, she totally ruined the Plastic Ono Band!"

37.  Principal Skinner had a group of rappers at the school, rapping about the importance of safety, and when they were done the principal said, "Wow, watch out, Beatles!". It was really funny

38.  In one of the newer episodes Little Richard is hosting the Teacher of the Year awards. Right when he is about to announce the winner, he says, "I'm a teacher too. I taught Paul McCartney to go OOOOOOOOH!"