“Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” is a suite of four short songs written by Stephen Stills about his soon-to-be-former girlfriend, folk singer Judy Collins, known for her piercing blue eyes. The song was the first number that Crosby, Stills & Nash performed when they took the stage at Woodstock (Neil Young bailed on most of the acoustic numbers) and indeed it was only the second time they’d ever played together in public, as they nervously admitted to the vast Woodstock audience.

Stills had dated Collins for two years and was well aware that he was probably about to lose her to actor Stacy Keach. He wrote the song as a way of working through his sadness over their impending break-up.

Judy Collins (recently seen in a very controversial episode of Girls) told of her reaction to hearing the song for the first time:

“[Stephen] came to where I was singing one night on the West Coast and brought his guitar to the hotel and he sang me “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” the whole song. And of course it has lines in it that referred to my therapy. And so he wove that all together in this magnificent creation. So the legacy of our relationship is certainly in that song.”

It is a magnificent song, let there be no doubt, but you have to smile when considering the satisfaction that the dumped Stills must’ve known when “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” became a staple of FM radio play, literally for decades afterwards.

Judy Collins titled her 2011 autobiography, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes.