Top 10 Simpsons Broadway Parody Songs – Listverse
The Simpsons is known for its well-educated writers and funny hidden references: no matter how small the demographic, it's almost guaranteed that there will be a Simpsons moment dedicated to it.
The show is also known for including musical numbers in many episodes. Some of these last only a few seconds, such as a riddle or rhyme on the schoolyard. But some are references to shows and songs that generations have enjoyed on the Great White Way. Here are some of the best ones you can tap your toe to.
Related: 10 surprising musical moments from popular shows
10 Adequate
Groundskeeper Willie is one of the least refined characters in the series The Simpsons (and that's saying something). His coarse Scottish accent and classic blue denim overalls make him the perfect subject for this 2006 episode based on My fair ladyaptly titled 'My Fair Laddy'.
Lisa convincingly plays the role of Henry Higgins The Simpsons version of Eliza Doolittle (Willie) that his life could be better. Instead of singing about how “loving” it could be, as in the original, Lisa tricks Willie into believing that his life as an upper-class man could be “enough.”
The parody here lives up to the name. [1]
9 A chorus line
If you can't tell by the title, not much work went into it. The final of A chorus line (the musical) famously features the entire company in sparkling gold costumes, kicking their legs to the sky.
The opening text of The Simpsons version are literally: “One… choir line of people.” The comedy is more in the cartoon itself, in which the cast dances without skin – they are turned inside out. Did I forget to mention that this was a Halloween episode?[2]
8 Vote Knight
West Side Story took the world by storm when it premiered in 1957: The same can't be said for this 2015 episode of The Simpsons.
As Homer and his friends prepare for poker night (and Lisa at band camp), the quartet breaks into overlapping song verses to the tune of Leonard Bernstein's “Tonight (Quintet).”
The lyrics here aren't particularly clever or poignant (although I have to be honest: that suits the characters.) The only word that rhymes with anything is 'tonight', which makes for a fun but approachable minute and a half.
Despite this, the song does an effective job of letting viewers know the plot of the episode thus far. What more do you need than for each character to state what they're literally up to at the end of the song?[3]
7 Another Springfield day
Deviating from Leonard Bernstein's classic tune, “Another Springfield Day” opens similarly La La Land does: traffic.
In the 2016 film musical, the drivers solved traffic jams by getting out of the car to sing and dance. Even though there are things they hate about Los Angeles, they know they will always wake up to “another day of sunshine.”
The iconic 'bum-da-dum' notes of La La Lands opening song The Simpsons viewers expect that the song will be a love ballad for their city despite the problems. But of course it wouldn't really be a comedy if it didn't subvert our expectations.
Springfield has been praised as a “truly perfect place to watch your dreams fade” and a “city that drags you down.”[4]
6 Garage sale today
If you think you're having déjà vu, you're not. Six years after the song “Tune Knight” premiered in a season 27 episode, they parodied the same song from the same musical. At least this one has a different title.
As the title suggests, the song is sung by patrons of a garage sale hosted by Simpson's neighbor Ned Flanders. While the original song begins, “Anita's gonna get her kicks tonight,” character Helen Lovejoy begins, “This woman's gonna get what she wants today” as she strolls through the garden.
The chorus of “today” reflects the original song's emphasis on the importance of “tonight.” In West Side Storythe song is a powerful tapestry of each character's needs, with the Sharks and Jets singing about the upcoming violent confrontation between the two gangs and Anita's eagerness to see her boyfriend after the rumble.
In The Simpsonsit's about vague dice.[5]
5 Springfield, Springfield
When Milhouse and Bart overdose on syrup from the Kwik-E-Mart, Milhouse tells them to “go crazy, Broadway style!”
And they do. The duo sings their praises about 'Springfield, Springfield', a parody of 'New York, New York'. Instead of “the Bronx is up and the Batteries are down,” the lyrics have been adjusted to take into account Springfield's geography. “The schoolyard is finished and the shopping center is destroyed!”
The original song is sung by three sailors in the classic musical On the city. In a nod to this, a sailor interrupts Milhouse and Bart to talk about NYC until Bart tells him, “New York is that way, man!”
The rest of the song follows the boys as they galvanize around the city and take advantage of the opportunities their hometown offers them.[6]
4 The genius of Monty Burns
This one is for the true Broadway fans.
Everyone knows Monty Burns as the conniving evil boss of the Springfield nuclear power plant. He has seemingly unlimited wealth, which he almost always uses for his own selfish ways. He doesn't care about his employees as much as he cares about his bottom line.
Sounds familiar? If you think he looks a bit like Henry Ford… you're probably a bit weird, but you're right! The Simpsons writers apparently thought Burns' tyrannical rule over the Banana Republic nuclear power plant in Springfield was similar to Ford's creation and invention of the Model T and factories in Detroit.
In the 1996 musical Rag time (based on the 1975 novel of the same name), Henry Ford plays a minor role, singing his theory about how the assembly line will take America by storm. He makes fun of his employees and claims that “even people who aren't very smart can learn to tighten a knot forever!”
In exactly the same tone, Mr. Burns urges his factory workers to speed up their labor and joyfully proclaims, “Even people who aren't very smart can work for the minimum wage forever.”
While certainly less well known than other musicals and references on this list, 'The Genius of Monty Burns' gets extra points for obscurity and cleverness.[7]
3 The garbage man
Who can take the sunrise and sprinkle it with dew? Cover it with chocolate and a miracle or two? The candy man, of course. But who needs candy when you can have trash?
In this season nine episode, Homer runs for waste commissioner after a fight with the local garbage collectors. He wins with the slogan “Can't anyone else do it?” to promote? and sings about his cleanliness plans for Springfield to the tune of “The Candyman”. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Oscar the Grouch even makes a cameo appearance.
This episode was generally well received and even won an Emmy in 1998. It was the 200th episode of the long-running series. It was specifically chosen as such by showrunner Mike Scully because he believed that “it had all the elements of what The Simpsons does it best: corporate satire, political satire, a production number, a great story with Homer, and the family is involved.[8]
2 See My Vest
This one is a mix of two iconic Disney films: Beauty and the beast And One hundred and one Dalmatians.
The plot of the episode “Two Dozen and One Greyhounds” (as the title suggests) parallels that of the latter. The evil Mr. Burns adopts 25 greyhound puppies, intending to kill 24 of them to make himself a Cruella-style tuxedo.
Because 101 dalmatiers isn't a musical, the writers decided to parody one of the most famous Disney songs of all time, “Be Our Guest,” from Beauty and the beast.
Mr. Burns wears “See My Vest,” and brags about his macabre wardrobe made from animals. With lyrics like “Like my loafers? Former Gophers – that's it, or I'd skin my drivers!' it's easy to see why this is hailed as one of the most iconic songs in the series.[9]
1 Monorail
The best of the best almost undoubtedly comes from 'Margin vs. the Monorail' from season four. Written by Conan O'Brien and starring Phil Hartman and Leonard Nimoy, this episode follows the residents of Springfield as they are convinced by fast-talking salesman Lyle Lanley to build a city monorail.
To convince the city that a monorail is exactly what they need, Lanley starts singing. What makes for it is a direct parody of “Ya Got Trouble” from the 1957 musical The Music Man. Lanley mirrors the show's star, Harold Hill, who similarly convinces the townspeople of the fictional River City that a pool table has been the source of all their problems. Once they get off the pool table, he claims, everything will be better.
Both “Ya Got Trouble” and “Monorail” use snappy call-and-response lines in their lyrics. As Hill repeats his mantra, “We've got problems,” Lanley sings “Monorail!” until Springfield is ready to finance his little project, which turns out to be a huge mess, much like con man Hill's plan to steal money from River City and then bounce.
The song has been hailed as one of the long-running TV show's best and most essential moments, with the tune's “sheer, stupid joy” being both hilarious and commenting on the corruption in the political infrastructure.[10]