Lisa sees a commercial for the Springfield Lottery and realizes that the jingle uses a
Bleeding Gums Murphy song with new lyrics. She argues that Murphy disliked gambling, but the townspeople are all playing the lottery and singing the jingle. She goes to the local jazz club thinking that the musicians there would be angry, but they are resigned to the fact that people will always steal Black music. Although
Homer tries to discourage her from fighting the lottery, she goes on the news to debate what Murphy would want, and she finds out that Murphy had a son. Lisa is saddened as she realizes she does not know everything about Bleeding Gums Murphy. To learn more about Murphy, Lisa visits Murphy's son, Monk, and discovers that he was born deaf. Although Murphy wanted a cochlear implant for his son, he could not afford one. Monk continues to want the implant but cannot afford it himself. When she realizes that Monk is not receiving money for licensing Murphy's music to the lottery, she plans to find a way to compensate him despite his protests. She takes Monk to the jazz club to meet Murphy's friends and to learn who owns the rights to Murphy’s music. They find one of Murphy's records and see the name of its publisher. Lisa tracks down Murphy's music publisher and learns that he sold the rights to his publisher who sold them to a consortium. She wants to keep fighting, but Monk is not interested. Lisa tells Homer that he is right, but
Marge is worried for her. Lisa realizes that she cannot win with only her idealism. She apologizes to Monk, saying that she was trying to save Monk the way Murphy saved her, but Monk did not need to be saved. He accepts her apology and tells Lisa that he is getting the cochlear implant with money he won playing the lottery. Two months later, Lisa plays Murphy’s song for his son as the first thing Monk hears. ==Production==