Template:Featured Article

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

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. Bleeding Gums was a mentor to Lisa Simpson until his early death. He played and sang a blues song written by Lisa. It pleased Lisa to see the performance of her own song in the club "The Jazz Hole", but not everyone in the family was happy with the lyrics, as they were sharply critical of Homer and Bart, and mildly critical of Marge.

When Bart went to the hospital after eating a jagged metal Krusty-O, Lisa found Bleeding Gums in a hospital bed in a nearby ward. They played Carole King's "Jazzman" together, entertaining everyone in the hospital. Bleeding Gums told Lisa about his life, family and career. He also gave her advice for her upcoming school recital and lent her his saxophone.

Lisa returned from the recital to share her triumph with Bleeding Gums, only to find that he had died. No one, except for Lisa, Marge and Homer, attended Murphy's funeral...