What album is Suite: Judy Blue Eyes on

Songfacts®:

• Stephen Stills wrote this song about his then-girlfriend, folk singer Judy Collins. In the Crosby, Stills & Nash 1991 boxed set, Stills said: "It started out as a long narrative poem about my relationship with Judy Collins. It poured out of me over many months and filled several notebooks. I had a hell of a time getting the music to fit. I was left with all these pieces of song and I said, 'Let's sing them together and call it a suite,' because they were all about the same thing and they led up to the same point."

• The title is a play on words. "Suite" is a reference to a part of a classical composition, but it can also be interpreted as "sweet." The full-length version of the song can be considered a suite, with lots of musical changes.

• The last verse is in Spanish and is about Cuba. It was sung in Spanish because Stephen Stills didn't want it easily understood since it had little to do with the theme of the song. Stills put that part in simply because the song had gone on forever and he didn't want it to just vamp out at the end.

  Here's the translation:

  How nice it will (or would) be to take you to Cuba
  The queen of the Caribbean Sea
  I only want to visit you there
  And how sad that I can't, damn! >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Zac - San Antonio, TX

• This album version runs 7:22, which was considered too long for radio, so the single was cut down to 4:35. Many FM radio stations played the album cut, which is now considered the definitive version. The Derek & the Dominos song "Layla," released the following year, had a similar trajectory: Cut to 2:43 as a single, the 7:10 album version is the one that endured.

• Released on their first album, "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" was the second Crosby, Stills & Nash single, following "Marrakesh Express." It established the harmony style that would be the group's trademark and became one of their best-known songs. It's included on their 1974 compilation So Far, a #1 album in America.

• Crosby, Stills & Nash's set at Woodstock in 1969 - just their second gig together - opened with "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes." The event ran long, so they didn't go on stage until 3 a.m. the third night (The Who set a precedent by going on at 5 a.m. the night before). They played 16 songs in their set, the first nine acoustic and the last seven electric. Those who left to get to work Monday morning not only missed Crosby, Stills & Nash, but didn't see Jimi Hendrix close out the festival.

• All three band members contributed vocals, but Stephen Stills was the only one to play an instrument on this song - he handled guitars, bass and percussion. Session man Dallas Taylor was the drummer.

• Stephen Stills spoke to Rolling Stone magazine about this song: "It was the beginnings of three different songs that suddenly fell together as one. Actually on the demo the middle part is not exactly how they would play. Half of it is it just falls off in its own - but we actually split it in half, and they got started singing and boom, there it went. Once it all was there then we just kept adding parts. When I wrote it I used cardboard shirt-blocking, you know those things from the cleaner's - 'cause they were harder to lose than pieces of paper and they didn't crumple up. I could line them up on music stands and they'd stand up."

• Graham Nash was rather impressed when he heard this song. "When Stephen Stills first played me this song, I wondered what planet he was from," he told Rolling Stone.

• Judy Collins recalled to Mojo magazine the effect this song had on her after Stills played it in her hotel room. She said: "He sang me 'Suite Judy Blue Eyes' and, you know, broken hearts are a very good inspiration - and I just caved in and I suppose I made promises I couldn't keep. We both had personal struggles." Collins' battle was with alcohol.

• The 1971 CSN&Y live album 4 Way Street opens with "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," but just the last 30 seconds. Compiled from a handful of shows on their 1970 tour, the album went on to sell over 4 million copies.

• The mid-'80s was a tumultuous time for the band, but somehow they made it to Live Aid in 1985, where they performed this song along with "Teach Your Children" and "Southern Cross." Organized by Bob Geldof, Live Aid was a benefit for famine relief in Africa. David Crosby was out on bail; by the end of the year he was jailed on drug and weapons charges.

• After dating Stills for two years, Judy Collins fell in love with the actor Stacy Keach. Devastated by their impending breakup, Stills wrote "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" as a response to his heartbreak.

  Stills sang it to Collins for the first time on her birthday. "I was out in California," she recalled to Uncut magazine. "Steven came and bought me flowers and a beautiful Martin guitar and sang 'Judy Blue Eyes' to me. We both wept and I said, 'It's gorgeous, but it's not going to get me back.'"

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