George Harrison and David Crosby guest star as themselves, and the Dapper Dans partly provide the singing voices of the Be Sharps.

There, Bart Simpson and his sister Lisa notice a picture of their father, Homer, on the cover of an old LP album.

Homer explains to his family that he, Principal Skinner, Barney Gumble, and Apu Nahasapeemapetilon recorded a barbershop quartet album eight years earlier in 1985, which catapulted them to national fame.

Homer tells the story of how he, Principal Skinner, Barney, and Apu recorded a barbershop quartet album in 1985, which catapulted them to national fame.

The band holds auditions for a fourth member but have no luck until they hear Barney singing in a melodious Irish tenor voice in the men's room.

The Be Sharps perform at the Statue of Liberty's centennial in 1986 and win a Grammy Award for Outstanding Soul, Spoken Word, or Barbershop Album of the Year.

Creative disputes arise within the group when Barney begins dating a Japanese conceptual artist who monopolizes his time and drives the Be Sharps away from their barbershop roots.

Bart and Lisa ask several more questions about Homer's time in the Be Sharps, but he sends them to bed without giving them answers.

Pedestrians stop and listen to the performance, including Harrison, who dismissively remarks, "It's been done," and Wiggum, who prepares to release tear gas on his former bandmates.

One of the writers for The Simpsons suggested that they should create an episode that focuses on Homer in a barbershop quartet and is "a big parody of the Beatles."

The man, nicknamed "Wiseguy" by the show's staff, tells Lisa that "they took [the doll] off the market after some kid put both his eyes out."

[5] The Be Sharps' singing voices were partly provided by The Dapper Dans, a barbershop quartet that performs at Disneyland in Anaheim, California.

Homer browses through a box with items costing five cents each, including the United States Declaration of Independence, a copy of Action Comics #1, a complete block of Inverted Jenny misprinted postal stamps, and a Stradivarius violin.

[2] One of the late night television shows Wiggum watches is Johnny Carson doing his Carnac the Magnificent routine, wearing a fez instead of the Classic turban.

At the Grammy ceremony, Spinal Tap, Aerosmith, and Michael Jackson (Leon Kompowsky) are in the audience; all had guest-starred on the show.

[2] While Bart and Lisa browse through LP albums at the swap meet, they find a recording of "Yankee Doodle" by Melvin and the Squirrels, a spoof of Alvin and the Chipmunks.

[2] When the Be Sharps perform "Goodbye, My Coney Island Baby" for the Statue of Liberty centennial, President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy are in attendance.

While Barney plays this song to the group, the members are seen standing in such a way to resemble a photograph of the Beatles in their studio with Ono while recording The White Album.

After the performance, Homer says, "I'd like to thank you on behalf of the group and I hope we passed the audition," paraphrasing Lennon's line at the end of the concert.

[11] DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson felt that the episode "kicks off [the season] with a terrific bang."

Giving the episode a score of 5 out of 5, DVD Talk praised the "four-part harmony of hilarity [that] gets a flawless mop top modeling," complimenting the references to pop culture icons as being "right on the money.

"[16] Although it appreciated the story and use of the main characters, Current Film was not enthused about the episode, claiming that it was not consistently funny.

[20] Andrew Martin of Prefix Mag named Harrison his fourth-favorite musical guest on The Simpsons out of a list of ten.

[21] Nathan Rabin writes that the episode "is a swooning yet irreverent valentine to Beatles mythology—an inspired, episode-length riff on the rise, fall, and glorious afterlife of what we can all agree was the single greatest rock band of all time.

"[22] The cocktail Barney's girlfriend orders in this episode—"a single plum, floating in perfume, served in a man's hat"—was recreated by Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson as part of the 2016 exhibit One More Story at the Reykjavík Art Museum, which was curated by Yoko Ono.