Lurleen Lumpkin

"I used to play the field, I used to be a roamer But the season's turning 'round for me now, I finally bagged me a Homer!"

- Lurleen Lumpkin

Lurleen Lumpkin is an attractive, aspiring country western singer. Homer was her manager for a time.

History
Homer discovered Lurleen at The Beer -N- Brawl, a country bar in Spittle County. She sang "Your Wife Don't Understand You" for the rowdy bar crowd, and Homer was amazed by her voice. He decided to help her launch a singing career, much to the chagrin of Marge. Lurleen was grateful to have someone helping her with her career, but she quickly started falling for Homer, and it came out in her song lyrics. First, she flirted with him in "Bagged Me a Homer", which angered Marge, but to which Homer remained oblivious. Then she made an open attempt to seduce him with an erotic song called "Bunk with Me Tonight". When Lurleen sang the song for him, it finally dawned on Homer that Lurleen was attracted to him.

Shortly after that, Homer booked Lurleen to appear as a guest star on the country-western variety show Ya Hoo!. During the show, Lurleen made another attempt to seduce Homer, luring him into her dressing room and passionately kissing him. Homer, however, had another, and suddenly realized that managing Lurleen could hurt his marriage and cost him his family. He abruptly quit as her manager in the middle of the show, sold her contract for $50 to an agent from Rebel Yell Records, and went home to Marge. Saddened, but wiser, Lurleen then sang on the show a new song called "Stand By Your Manager", which she had written on the spot. Happily, Homer and Marge were able to make up before the show was over.

Lurleen enjoyed a brief period of success after Homer quit managing her. At what Kent Brockman described as the peak of her career, she appeared as a celebrity guest on . Lurleen sang "Bunk with Me Tonight" for Kermit, which got him into trouble with Miss Piggy. Lurleen also made a guest appearance on Springfield Squares, occupying the coveted center-square position.

After that, however, Lurleen's career went into a downward spiral, and she started drinking heavily. She also never got over Homer, marrying and divorcing three times—with all of her ex-husbands, despite being from diverse ethnic backgrounds, bearing striking resemblances to Homer.

Lurleen was present during the opening of the Springfield Monorail, where she revealed to Kent Brockman that she had been to the and had "spent last night in a ditch." Lurleen was also seen at the Bowlarama as one-fourth of a bowling team called "The Home Wreckers", the other three members being Jacques Brunswick, Mindy Simmons and Princess Kashmir. She did have some work as a musician during this time, playing in Branson, Missouri in a show along with Pip Diddler.

When Kirk was in jail Lurleen was one of the girls that fell in love with him.

Lurleen resurfaced when Mayor Quimby was aggressively rounding up citizens who owed back taxes, and was arrested. She pleaded to Judge Snyder that she couldn't afford to pay anything because all of her money was going to her ex-husbands, but Snyder was unmoved and ordered her to start paying her taxes. Homer and Marge promised to help her get her career back on track, and Marge helped reunite Lurleen with her deadbeat father. When her father betrayed her again (stealing one of her new songs), Lurleen retook control of her career and went on to open for The. She still didn't have all her personal issues resolved, though, as she fell for yet another man who resembled Homer.

Songs

 * "Your Wife Don't Understand You"
 * "Bagged Me a Homer"
 * "Bunk with Me Tonight"
 * "Stand By Your Manager"
 * "Daddy's Back"

Behind the Laughter

 * In her debut appearance in "Colonel Homer", Lurleen is voiced by American actress and singer Beverly D'Angelo, who reprises her role in the Season 19 episode "Papa Don't Leech". D'Angelo was cast because of her role as country music singer in the film.
 * D'Angelo wrote the songs "Your Wife Don't Understand You" and "Bagged Me a Homer".
 * In "Marge vs. the Monorail", Lurleen is voiced by Doris Grau.
 * Lurleen appears on the "The Simpsons Gone Wild" and "The Simpsons: The Last Temptation of Homer" VHS/DVD covers.