This “Abbey Road” inspired commercial for the Beatles version of Rock Band was broadcast relentlessly during football yesterday:

That reminded me that last month there was another uptick in Beatles nostalgia because it was the 40th anniversary of the cover photo for “Abbey Road”.  As a result the were lots of blog posts and other internet errata talking about it.  Particularly, there were lots of compilations (like this one) of various parody and homage images.  This includes a Simpsons rendering of it originally produced for Rolling Stone to promote the 14th season.  I get that the Rolling Stone thing is cute, it’s easy to find on-line and it fits in with all the other versions of that picture people have done over the years.

However, and chalk this up to my general Simpsons crankiness if you must, I can’t be the only one who remembers that The Simpsons already did an Abbey Road cover parody.  And it wasn’t some stupid promotional stunt, it was, you know, part of an episode.  I’m referring, of course, to the second album by The Be Sharps, “Bigger Then Jesus”:

Incidentally, and though he may or may not have thought he actually was Jesus, John Lennon never said the Beatles were “bigger” than Jesus.  He said the Beatles were “more popular” than Jesus in England.  Which was true then and may still be true now.  That didn’t stop religious types from flipping their shit, of course.  But it deserves mention.