Some of the most beautiful songs in history have been inspired by real-life romance…and some tell more than one love story at a time. In the case of what David Crosby once called the best song he ever wrote, three different women inspired the lyrics (along with a medieval legend).
Released on Crosby, Stills & Nash, the group’s 1969 eponymous debut album, “Guinnevere” has three different verses, with each one seemingly about Guinnevere (the mythical object of King Arthur and Lancelot’s affection). In fact, each verse has to do with a separate woman, all ex-lovers of Crosby.
“That is a very unusual song, it’s in a very strange tuning with strange time signatures,” Crosby explained in a 2008 interview with Rolling Stone.
“It’s about three women that I loved,” Crosby continued. “One of whom was Christine Hinton, the girl who got killed who was my girlfriend, and one of whom was Joni Mitchell and the other one is somebody that I can’t tell. It might be my best song.”
According to The Independent, the “other one” is widely believed to be Nancy Ross, who was dating Gram Parsons when Crosby “stole” her at a party.
Like Crosby, Mitchell also took inspiration from the pair’s relationship to write a song: “That Song About the Midway,” which she decided to play for her former flame at a party at Monkee Peter Tork‘s house.
As author David Browne wrote in Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: The Wild, Definitive Saga of Rock’s Greatest Supergroup, Crosby started seeing an old girlfriend when he and Mitchell started having problems. When she found out, Mitchell was not pleased.
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“Joni was very angry and said, ‘I’ve got a new song,'” Crosby told Browne, before launching into “That Song About the Midway” (which included references to cheating).
“It was a very ‘Goodbye David’ song,” Crosby added. “She sang it while looking right at me, like, ‘Did you get it? I’m really mad at you.’ And then she sang it again. Just to make sure.”
While it’s not clear what Mitchell thought about “Guinnevere,” plenty of critics and fans have agreed with Crosby’s assessment. Earlier this year, Far Out‘s Jordan Potter called it the “greatest song David Crosby ever wrote.” And following Crosby’s death in 2023 at the age of 81, SPIN ranked “Guinnevere” at #2 on a list of the late musician’s “10 Best Songs.”
Related: 1971 Soft Rock Hit, Rumored to Be About an Affair With James Taylor, Was Actually Inspired by a 24-Year-Old Cook
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