'Round Springfield

" ' Round Springfield" is the 22nd episode of the Simpsons' sixth season.

Plot
Bart gets a stomach ache after accidentally eating a jagged metal Krusty-O with his breakfast cereal. Lisa is the only one who believes him, as Homer and Marge send him to school. Bart struggles through the test, and after finally convincing Mrs. Krabappel that he is actually ill, she lets him go and see the nurse. Bart collapses on the medical room floor, and is taken to Springfield General Hospital where he undergoes surgery from Dr. Hibbert and Dr. Nick Riviera, as it emerges he has appendicitis. While visiting Bart in the hospital, Lisa meets her hero, jazzman Bleeding Gums Murphy in a bed in another ward.

Later, he lends Lisa his saxophone for her school recital. It starts off terribly, but Lisa gets up and performs a solo routine, becoming the star of the show. However, when she returns to the hospital, she is saddened to learn that Bleeding Gums has died. Lisa, Marge and Homer are the only people who attend Bleeding Gums's funeral, and vow to make sure that everyone in Springfield knows the name Bleeding Gums Murphy. Bart, meanwhile, sues Krusty the Clown for $100,000 and wins. However, after Bart's attorney Lionel Hutz takes his "legal fees", Bart is left with only $500.

Still stricken with grief, Lisa decides that the best way to honor Bleeding Gums' memory is by having his album played at the local jazz station. Lisa spots it in the Android's Dungeon store for $250, but after hearing that Bleeding Gums is dead, Comic Book Guy doubles the price to $500. Bart then walks in with his $500 and, after remembering that Lisa was the only one who believed him about his stomachache, Bart decides to buy the album with his money. When the station plays one of Bleeding Gums's songs, Lisa is disappointed because the station's tiny range still prevents anyone from hearing it. Lightning then strikes the antenna, giving it extra power and projecting it into every radio in Springfield. Lisa is finally satisfied. After proclaiming "that was for you Bleeding Gums," she turns to leave, but not before Bleeding Gums appears from the heavens to tell Lisa that she had made "an old jazz man happy". After saying a final goodbye, Lisa and Bleeding Gums jam to "Jazzman" one last time.

Production
This episode was the first in which a recurring character was killed off. The writers and production team felt that it would be a great storyline, with a lot of emotions, primarily for Lisa. They knew that it could not be one of the main characters; Al Jean stated that "we wouldn't want it to be someone like Mr. Burns, that we'd obviously want to see in the show again". Eventually they decided on Bleeding Gums Murphy, although Mike Reiss stated "I had been polling for years to kill Jacqueline Bouvier, but this was a better idea".

Mike Reiss's father, being a doctor, was the medical consultant on this episode. He stated that you "just can't get" appendicitis from eating a piece of metal. This was one of two episodes that was created with the help of the staff of The Critic, with the other being "A Star Is Burns".