'Round Springfield

'Round Springfield

"'Round Springfield" is the 22nd episode of the sixth season of The Simpsons. It originally aired on April 30, 1995. In the episode, Bart is rushed to hospital after eating a jagged metal Krusty-O and decides to sue Krusty the Clown. Whilst visiting Bart, Lisa meets her old mentor, jazz musician Bleeding Gums Murphy. She is saddened when she later learns that Murphy has died, and resolves to honor his memory. Steve Allen (as himself) and Ron Taylor (as Bleeding Gums Murphy) guest star, each in their second appearance on the show.

It was written by Joshua Sternin and Jeffrey Ventimilia based on a story idea by Al Jean and Mike Reiss and was the first episode directed by Steven Dean Moore. Jean and Reiss, who were previously the series' showrunners, returned to produce this episode (as well as "A Star Is Burns") in order to lessen the workload of the show's regular staff. They worked on it alongside the staff of The Critic, the series they had left The Simpsons to create. The episode marks the first time in which a recurring character was killed off in the show, something the staff had considered for a while. The episode features numerous cultural references, including Carole King's song "Jazzman", the actor James Earl Jones and the Kimba the White Lion/The Lion King controversy.

The episode also features the phrase "cheese-eating surrender monkeys", used by Groundskeeper Willie to describe the French, which has since entered the public lexicon. It has been used and referenced frequently by journalists and academics and has been included in two Oxford quotation dictionaries.