How many lives must I reach through hours must I squander pacing my breath pressing my face alongside steel sculptures erected lies marking the last communion we shared in our cemetery of promises
with my hands shoved in shallow pockets digging to keep warm clutching onto faith straws watching fantasies on a loop attempting to alter their collision with my presence or murderous thoughts against them
how many disappointments can I bear how many more mistakes I must make or creatures I must confront tracing my finger up and down streams of false idols undressing each like a delicate scar or an emblem of our loyalty our collective contribution to the memorial of ruin
how many years must I run or eternally relive our collapse before I forget before I can exit cornerstone gardens.
The title refers to Stephen Stills' former girlfriend, singer/songwriter Judy Collins, and the lyrics to most of the suite's sections consist of his thoughts about her and their [imminent] breakup. Collins is known for her piercing blue eyes, which are referenced in the title. Stephen Stills on NPR, July 15, 2007 in talking about the release of demo tapes he made in 1968, called Just Roll Tape reveals that Judy Collins was with him in the studio when these tapes were recorded. She told him not to stay [at the studio] all night", Stephen said. "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" is one of the demo songs. When the interviewer asked if he and Judy were still a couple then, because the interviewer had always thought the song was a break-up song, Stephen, after deferring an answer, went on to say:
"The break-up was imminent. We were both too large for one house."
Collins and Stills had met in 1967 and began a relationship that lasted for two years. In 1969, she was appearing in the New York Shakespeare Festival musical production of Peer Gynt and had fallen in love with her co-star Stacy Keach. She eventually left Stills for Keach. Stills was devastated by the possible breakup and wrote the song as a response to his sadness.
Bird On The Wire: Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
Like a worm on a hook,
like a knight from some old fashioned book
I have saved all my ribbons for thee.
If I, if I have been unkind,
I hope that you can just let it go by.
If I, if I have been untrue
I hope you know it was never to you.
Like a baby, stillborn,
like a beast with his horn
I have torn everyone who reached out for me.
But I swear by this song
and by all that I have done wrong
I will make it all up to thee.
I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch,
he said to me, "You must not ask for so much."
And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door,
she cried to me, "Hey, why not ask for more?"
Oh like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
"And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are? We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move....you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel? You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children."
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