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"Homer's Barbershop Quartet" is the first episode of The Simpsons' fifth season. It features the Be Sharps, a fictional barbershop quartet.

Synopsis

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It's the day of the Springfield Swap Meet. Bart and Lisa notice an album cover with Homer on it. They ask Homer when he recorded an album. Homer answers that he recorded an album in 1985; every afternoon at Moe's, Chief Wiggum, Principal Skinner, Apu, and he would get together and sing.

The crowd liked the singing. Homer says that his group was a barbershop quartet, which was popular everywhere, even at church. The group initially started in Springfield, but quickly found national fame. Their career parallelled that of the Beatles in many ways. This development came after an agent, Nigel, approached them and said everyone in the group could sing, except Chief Wiggum, who was too "Village People." The group got people to audition, with Grampa (who does a swing version of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm"), Groundskeeper Willie, Jasper, and Chief Wiggum (disguised as Doctor Dolittle) all making unsuccessful attempts. When the barbershop trio returned to Moe's, they heard Barney's singing in a beautiful Irish voice, and are amazed. However, after Barney is chosen as the new member, people still liked Chief Wiggum. Eventually, the audience warmed up to Barney, so fast in fact that Moe thought Nigel paid them to support Barney.

The group considered various names, finally calling themselves "The Be Sharps." They had decided their name should be witty initially, but should become less funny each time you heard it.

Back in modern times, leaving the swap meet, Homer says he sold a spare tire, but unfortunately, a tire on the car blows out, and Marge has to take a long walk to a gas station. Homer tells the rest of the story: he looked at ideas for a new song, and they failed, until Marge got a "Baby on Board" sign, and Homer wrote his "Baby on Board" song inspired by the fad; the group sung it in studio and put it on their first album, Meet the Be Sharps (the album found by Bart and Lisa at the start of the episode). The song became a number one hit. The group arrived in America in 1986 to perform at the centennial of the Statue of Liberty. The Be Sharps also won a Grammy for "Outstanding Soul, Spoken Word, or Barbershop Album of the Year", and Homer met George Harrison (the greatest thrill of his life: Harrison directed him to "a big pile" of brownies). Meanwhile, Wiggum's singing career (now dead) was being mocked by numerous talk show hosts.

Homer explains that the Be Sharps were on merchandise items - such as lunch boxes, mugs, posters, etc. When Lisa pulls out a bottle of Be Sharps Funny Foam, Homer says that it was pulled off the market when it was discovered to be poisonous. He goes on to voice his disapproval of that by remarking that, "...if you ask me, if you're dumb enough to eat it, you deserve to die." He turns and finds Bart spraying the bottle into his mouth.

The name of their second album was Bigger than Jesus. Unfortunately, while the Be Sharps were becoming popular, Marge had problems raising the children, and the Be Sharps also had their own problems. They had creative disputes, and Barney left the group in all but name. Barney's girlfriend was a Japanese conceptual artist; the two recorded a song in which the girlfriend repeatedly says "Number 8" over tape loops of Barney's belches. The group lost its popularity and split up, with Principal Skinner returning to Springfield Elementary School, and Homer returned to his job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant after a chicken named Queenie took his place. He ate the chicken.

After Homer takes another look at the album, the group reunites to perform a rooftop concert at Moe's singing the number one hit "Baby on board".

Trivia

• This was David Crosby's second appearance on the show.
• The note "B sharp" (B#) is enharmonically the same as the note "C". They are often said to be the same note, but in proper music theory this is incorrect.
• The famous Disneyland barbershop quartet, the Dapper Dans, provided the singing voices for the Be Sharps.
• Apu's new name (de Beaumarchais) is (incorrect) French for 'of the good market' (the real French syntax is "du beau marché"), or, very creatively mangled, 'of the convenient store', an obscure reference to the Kwik-E-Mart. It is also the name of Pierre de Beaumarchais, French politician and play-writer, most famous for the three Figaro plays.
• The Take One couch gag shows The Simpsons running into each other and shattering into pieces; this gag was reused in "$pringfield" and "Lady Bouvier's Lover". The Take Two couch gag shows The Simpsons running into each other again and melding into a blob; this gag was reused in "Bart Gets Famous". The Take Three couch gag shows The Simpsons once again colliding; this time they explode. The Take Three gag was reused in "Homer the Vigilante" and "Secrets of a Successful Marriage". In syndication, only the Take One gag is used.
• A deleted scene of this episode showed Skinner going back to his mother. She asks him if he was with a woman, he says no, then she asks for a bath, followed by mad laughing and a close-up of their Psycho-parody house.
• This is the first episode to be dedicated in memory of someone.
• This was not originally going to be the season premiere, but this was changed because George Harrison was the guest star.
• When Comic Book Guy lifts up The Melvin and the Squirrels album behind it is a Spinal Tap record. Also, Spinal Tap is later seen in the room where Homer meets George Harrison. Harry Shearer, one of the show's voice actors, starred in Spinal Tap.

Cultural References

• Principal Skinner recognizes an old prison helmet of his from Vietnam with the number '24601'. This is also the prison number and alias of Jean Valjean in Les Misérables. The same number is also Sideshow Bob's prison number in the episode "Black Widower". The huge bomb in the background is a replica of Little Boy, the atomic bomb exploded on Hiroshima.
• The record that Comic Book Guy had at the swap meet, "Melvin and the Squirrels" is an obvious spoof of Alvin and the Chipmunks.
• At the swap meet Homer naively misidentifies the Declaration of Independence, an issue of Action Comics #1 (the debut of Superman), a sheet of Inverted Jenny postage stamps and a violin by the Stradivarius family, all rare and valuable items, as "junk". A single Inverted Jenny stamp itself would today fetch around US$150,000.
• Homer's attempted song lyrics include references to The Mystery of Al Capone's Vault and Batman actor Burt Ward.
• The 1980s chat show hosts mocking Chief Wiggum are Johnny Carson and Joan Rivers.
• Homer's line about Dexy's Midnight Runners, "We haven't heard the last of them!", is ironic as the band were a one-hit wonder (at least in the USA), only charting with "Come on Eileen".
• Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon LP can be seen in the background next to the Melvin record.
• Their hit song, 'Baby On Board', paraphrases some of 'You're So Square Baby I Don't Care'.

Beatles references

• Moe's Tavern has changed to Moe's Cavern, a reference to the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool where The Beatles frequently performed in the late 1950's and early 1960's.
• When Chief Wiggum jumps out of the window stating "This bird's going to fly," this is a reference to a line in "Norwegian Wood" on the Rubber Soul album.
• Chief Wiggum's replacement in the band by Barney is a parallel to Pete Best being replaced as The Beatles' drummer by Ringo Starr. The scenes in "Moe's Cavern," where people are shouting "Wiggum Forever, Barney Never," are reminiscent of scenes in Liverpool when fans chanted "Pete Best Forever, Ringo Never."
• "Gentlemen, you have just recorded your first number one," is what George Martin told the Beatles after they finished recording "Please Please Me".
• Homer having to cover up his marriage to Marge is a parody of John Lennon being forced to conceal the fact he was married to Cynthia in the early years.
• The first Be Sharps LP we see, Meet the Be Sharps, is a direct reference to The Beatles' album Meet the Beatles!, featuring the quartet's faces in black-and-white contrast on the cover.
• The press conference at the airport is a direct reference to the questions the American press asked the Beatles when they first arrived in New York.
• The Be Sharps' performance at the Statue of Liberty parodies The Beatles´ presentation in 1964 on The Ed Sullivan Show.
• The Be Sharps' British manager Nigel, flirts in a homosexual manner towards Homer, a parody of the alleged homosexual affair between the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein and John Lennon.
• The cover of Bigger Than Jesus, the Be Sharps' second album, features the group walking on water. It is a direct parody of the art on The Beatles' album Abbey Road. At the end of the episode the back cover is revealed, on which we see Homer turned away from the camera, as opposed to the rest of the band. This is a parody of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band LP reverse, in which Paul McCartney is in the same position, allegedly as part of the "Paul Is Dead" hype. "Bigger than Jesus" is a reference to a controversial quote made by John Lennon in 1966.
• The scene in the recording studio where the group record a new song includes the lyrics "Goo goo ga joob," which is a lyric from "I am the Walrus".
• Barney's Japanese conceptual artist girlfriend is a parody of Yoko Ono, and the two record a song which sounds similar to Lennon and Ono's "Revolution 9".
• The group performing atop Moe's Bar at the end of the episode (including their clothes) is a parody of The Beatles' impromptu concert on the Apple Corps rooftop during their Get Back recording sessions in 1969 -- hence George Harrison's line, "It's been done."
• Homer's comment "I'd like to thank you on behalf of the group and I hope we passed the audition," is the last piece of dialogue, said by John Lennon, on the Beatles Let It Be album, taken from the Apple rooftop concert.

Song

• Barney: And a-one, and a-two, and a-three
  Skinner: Ba-bum bum bum
  Be-Sharps: Ba-by on board, how I've adored (bum bum bum)
  That sign on my car's windowpane
  A bounce in my step, loaded with pep
  'Cause I'm driving in the (Homer harmonizes) carpool lane
  Call me a square, friend I don't care (bum bum bum)
  That little yellow sign can't be ignored
  I'm telling you it's mighty nice
  Each trip's a trip to paradise
  With my ba-by on board!

Goofs

• After Marge's "replacement Homer" malfunctions, the next scene shows Santa's Little Helper burying him in the yard. Santa's Little Helper did not become the Simpsons' pet until the first episode, "Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire".
• The sign outside the Church credits the group as "The Be Sharps" before they even decided on their name.
• MC Hammer appeared at the 1987 Grammys but he didn't become famous until the 1990s.
• When the group (with Barney) performs at the Statue of Liberty, Chief Wiggum's voice can clearly be heard.
• Homer refers to Joe Piscopo leaving Saturday Night Live in 1985 when setting the scene for the story, but Piscopo left the show in 1984, before the show underwent a cast overhaul for season 10 (and again in seasons 11 and 12).
• When Homer sends the kids to bed, from one angle, his phone has no numbers.
• While Homer says he had five and a half weeks at the top at the end of the episode, only one scene said it was 1985--and the John F. Kennedy International Airport scene said it was 1986.
• In the final shot of the episode, Wiggum is drawn off-model and Lou disappears.
• Homer and Marge's bedroom had photos of Bart and Lisa when they were 10 and 8 years old. However, the story takes place when Bart and Lisa were only three years old and one year old respectively.
• Lisa is less than one year old, yet she still talks to Homer on the phone.
• Although Lisa is already born, Homer still has hair on his head. In the episode "And Maggie Makes Three" he is shown ripping out all but three hairs out of his head when hearing of Marge being pregnant with Lisa. Instead, that scene is consider a "goof" too, because Homer is shown with hair when Lisa is a baby in several episodies, including the episode when Lisa's born; "Lisa's First Word"
• "Come on Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners came out between 1983 and 1984, yet the Grammy show where Homer wins an award takes place in 1985.
• Toward the end of the episode in the scene where Barney introduces his Yoko Ono-esque "Japanese Conceptual Artist" girlfriend, he presses the red button to "play" the tape, but generally red indicates "record".

External links

• "Homer's Barbershop Quartet episode capsule". The Simpsons Archive.
• Official page on fox.com about this episode, #501

• The Simpsons episodes, season 5