 Chief Wiggum is singing " Camptown Races " from 1850 by Stephen Foster ventriloquised with the skull of Jebediah Springfield . Lisa 's dream in which Washington and Springfield are fighting is a reference to Lethal Weapon . When Lisa is telling the people at Moe 's Tavern about the real history of Jebediah Springfield , they all sit with their mouths open . This is a reference to a scene in the film The Producers from 1968 . When Homer knocks over Ned Flanders in order to take over his job as town crier , it is a reference to the film National Lampoon 's Animal House from 1978 ( in which Sutherland appeared . ) Lisa 's decision to hide the truth to preserve the myth of Jebediah Springfield is a reference to the film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance . In addition to these cultural references , at least one author has compared this episode to Friedrich Nietzsche 's short work On the Advantage and Disadvantage of History for Life . 
