Breezy Listening Blues

"Breezy Listening Blues"
Main image Title card
Season/Series:	9
Number in season:	10B
Original airdate:	April 8, 2005 June 2, 2005 January 10, 2008
Credits
Written by:	Peter K. Hirsch
Storyboard by:	Jeremy O'Neill
Episodes
Previous "Binky Goes Nuts"	Next "Happy Anniversary"

Read transcript

"Breezy Listening Blues" is the second half of the tenth episode in the ninth season of Arthur.

Summary

Brain gets a lower-than-expected grade on his test.

Plot

Mr. Ratburn is handing back test papers. He questions if Alan was feeling okay when he took the test. Brain is shocked to see that his grade is a B-, and immediately asks if this is correct. Mr. Ratburn tells him it is, and tells him not to take it too hard. Arthur and Buster try to tell him that a B is a good grade, with Buster wishing he had gotten one (he got a C). Brain freaks out because that is only one grade above a C+ and he hasn't ever gotten a B- before. Arthur shrugs and tells him that he will do better next time. Brain again freaks out, saying that he might not do better and instead will do worse and worse, until he becomes like Buster. He proceeds to fantasize himself as Buster, confusing a dirigible with a UFO and eating a cupcake out of the garbage. Back in the classroom, he says that this could be the start of something very bad.

Breezy Listening Blues

As Buster and Arthur are getting their milkshakes at Brain's ice cream parlor, Arthur inquires what Brain did the day before the test. Brain goes through the events of the day and realizes the music in the ice cream shop has changed. Arthur says that the music sounds familiar (and is in fact an easy listening remix of the Arthur theme song).

Brain then discovers that the Breezy Listening CD is the problem and tests this on the Tibbles with horrible results. He later listens to it while having a dream about a mall.

He reports to his parents that the Breezy Listening CD is affecting his brain, so they put Brain in charge of the music.

First he tries Koko Taylor, but it makes Buster lose his appetite. Molly suggests Mütakrüde, but it does not work. Muffy then tries Carmen, but Molly turns it off. Francine then puts on U Stink to Muffy's frustration. Arthur and Buster then sing the We Stink Song while Muffy replays Carmen, but Brain turns it off, saying that they are in an ice cream shop, not a jukebox, and declares silence, leading to everyone going to The Sugar Bowl.

The next day, Brain dreads what the grade on his next test will be, due to having played the Breezy Listening CD again yesterday, but he gets an A+. Later, he makes a CD of the customers' favorite songs called the Sundae Hits, finishing the episode.

Characters

Major

• Brain
• Arthur Read
• Buster Baxter
• Mr. Ratburn

Minor

• Timmy and Tommy Tibble
• Muffy Crosswire
• Francine Frensky
• Molly MacDonald
• Mr. Powers
• Mrs. Powers
• Ms. Turner

Cameo

• Binky Barnes
• Sue Ellen Armstrong
• Mr. Morris
• George Lundgren
• Fern Walters
• Mrs. Armstrong
• Bitzi Baxter
• Mrs. Wood
• Unknown Male Adult Poodle
• Wanda Deegan
• Flossie
• Billy
• Alex Davidson
• Maria Pappas
• Unknown Male Adult Rabbit (Number 3)
• Unknown Female Adult Rabbit (Number 4)
• 3rd Grade Male Dog
• 3rd Grade Female Aardvark
• Mike
• 3rd Grade Male Dog (Number 2)
• Ethel
• Kenny
• Helen
• Nancy
• Jenna Morgan

Trivia

• While most of the lines are missing, the first question on Brain's geography test can be worked out as "What is the capital of Canada?" Brain correctly answers "Ottawa."

Episode connections

• During Brain's dream in a giant mall, he stops by a Chickin Lickin' - a restaurant chain first featured in "Sue Ellen Chickens Out."
• Several singers and bands are featured when Brain changes music at the ice cream shop:
  • Koko Taylor from "Big Horns George" has her song "Tired of That" played. Brain also mentions her songs "Bills, Bills, Bills, and More Bills," "Evil" and "I Cried Like a Baby."
  • Mütakrüde from "The Law of the Jungle Gym" has an unreleased album, Shinsplits, played.
  • Rodney Gilfry from "Lights, Camera... Opera!" sings "Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre" ("Your toast, I can give it back to you") from Carmen.
  • U Stink and We Stink from Arthur - It's Only Rock 'n' Roll are mentioned. U Stink's Nothing But the Music" is played, and Arthur and Buster sing the "We Stink Song".

Cultural references

• In the Chickin Lickin' in Brain's dream, the clerk asks "Would you like to megasize that for only ten cents more?". This refers to McDonald's controversial Supersize option between 1992 and 2004.
• During Brain's dream, he finds a library where Ms. Turner shows him that books have been replaced with simpler versions called "bookazines." An Arthur doll is seen reading Call of the Mild, a spoof of The Call of the Wild by Jack London. Paige Turner is seen reading Peace, a spoof of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.
• The Breezy Listening music Brain plays in the shop is a muzak version of the Arthur theme song. Arthur mentions that he "knows that tune from somewhere."

Errors

• During the 2019 Arthur Marathon voting, this episode's title was misspelled as "Breezy's Listening Blues."
• When Brain looks at his paper with a B-, he has Mr. Ratburn's sleeve.
• Brain holds Koko Taylor's album Force of Nature. None of the songs he mentions is on that album.
• Possible: In the opening, Mr. Ratburn corrects Muffy by telling her that Congo is a country, not a dance. But when he hands the paper to her, it's graded A. However, that could have been the only question she got wrong, so all it did was bump her down from an A+ to an A.

Production notes

• This is Alex Hood's final episode as Brain.
• This is also the final episode to have Samuel Holden voice Timmy Tibble.

Home video

DVD:

• Binky Goes Nuts (DVD)

Gallery

Main article: Breezy Listening Blues/Gallery

External links

• Ark TV Transcript (archived page)