Bleeding Gums Murphy

"Bleeding Gums" Murphy is a jazz musician, and an idol of Lisa Simpson.

Biography
Bleeding Gums learned his musical skills "at the feet of" "Blind Willie" Witherspoon. Willie wanted to give Bleeding Gums his saxophone, only to be finally told that it wasn't a saxophone and actually an umbrella, meaning that Willie had actually been playing an umbrella for some thirty years. Bleeding Gums explained to Willie that no one informed him of the mistake because "we all thought it was funny".

Murphy recorded only one album, titled Sax on the Beach, which was extremely lucrative for him. However, he soon went broke after spending too much of his money on several Fabergé eggs a day. In "'Round Springfield" he revealed that he had once made a guest appearance on The Cosby Show in 1986 as the Huxtable children's grandfather, as well as appearing on Steve Allen's Tonight Show. Murphy makes his first appearance playing his saxophone on a bridge in the middle of the night. This is a reference to Sonny Rollins, the great saxophonist, who famously retired from public and was not seen for three years, until a journalist discovered him playing the saxophone alone on the Williamsburg Bridge.

Bleeding Gums was a mentor to Lisa Simpson until his early death. He played and vocalized a song written by Lisa. It pleased Lisa to see the performance of her own jazz song in the bar "The Jazz Hole", but not everyone in the family was happy with lyrics, as they criticized several of them.

Bleeding Gums once sang a twenty six minute version of the American National anthem "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Springfield Isotopes game.

He serves as one of the three judges for a talent show once, giving Bart a 10 for his impersonation of Principal Skinner and also appears in "Radio Bart", where he joins in with the song "Sending Our Love Down the Well" after Bart pretends that he fell into a well.

Allison Taylor has a photo of Bleeding Gums on the wall. It may be possible that Bleeding Gums was also Allison's one idol.

Sometime before he died, he invited Dr. Hibbert, Carl Carlson, and Drederick Tatum to a party at his house.

It is hinted that Dr. Hibbert and Bleeding Gums are long lost brothers.

Death
He makes his final appearance in "'Round Springfield". When Bart ends up in the hospital after eating a jagged metal Krusty-O, Lisa finds Bleeding Gums in a hospital bed in a nearby ward. They play Carole King's "Jazzman" together entertaining the hospital. He explains about his life, family and work to her as well as giving her advice for her upcoming school performance, lending her his saxophone. When Lisa returns she finds out that Bleeding Gums has died from circumstances that are never revealed.

No one, except for Lisa, attends Murphy's funeral. Reverend Lovejoy gets his name wrong, calling him "Blood and Guts Murphy" and "Bloody Gums Murphy", as well as saying that he was "quite the sousaphone player". This prompts Lisa to buy his album, as the jazz station didn't have it, although she cannot afford it. Bart uses the $500 he got from his court case against "Krusty O's" to buy it for her. She gives it to the jazz station who play it on the radio. The signal isn't strong enough, but a lightning strike boosts the signal so that all of Springfield does hear it.

Murphy's face appeared from the clouds, thanking Lisa for her final tribute and performing "Jazzman" one last time with her (this is a parody of a scene in the Lion King. To further the parody, other famous characters voiced by James Earl Jones appear as well; Mufasa from The Lion King, Darth Vader from Star Wars and Jones' own CNN narration).

Behind the Scenes
The appearance of Bleeding Gums Murphy is loosely based on LeRoi Moore, the late saxophone player for the Dave Matthews Band. It may also be an homage to Sonny Rollins, a great saxophone player who left his life as a jazz musician to play by himself on a bridge.

Bleeding Gums gave the origin of his nickname in "Moaning Lisa" as thus: "Well let me put it this way... you ever been to the dentist? Not me. I suppose I should go to one, but I got enough pain in my life as it is."

The voice of Bleeding Gums Murphy was provided by Ron Taylor, while his saxophone playing is provided by Dan Higgins. In the episode "Dancin' Homer" he was voiced by Daryl L. Coley.

Murphy has been a fixture of The Simpsons' opening sequence from Season Two on, even after his death. He even appeared in the live-action format, in The Simpsons Sky One commercial, that was also used for the episode "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife". In 2009, the opening sequence had to be updated since the series was now broadcast in hi-def widescreen format. The new, updated sequence removed Murphy completely.



In addition to his onscreen appearances, Murphy also appeared on The Simpsons Sing the Blues, an album of rock, and jazz music with vocals performed by characters from the show. On the track "God Bless the Child" (a cover of the Billie Holiday song), performed by Lisa Simpson (Yeardley Smith), Murphy speaks up after the final chorus to praise Lisa for her vocals, after which he and Lisa perform a saxophone duet for the remainder of the song. Murphy was again voiced by Ron Taylor for the song, and his alto saxophone part was performed by Kim Richmond.