"Green Eyes", is a sprawling, three-part epic exploring the contradicting emotions of a woman trying to cope with a breakup. The first part, titled "Movement 1 (denial)", features piano by James Poyser, trumpets by Roy Hargrove, and sounds akin to the effect of being heard through a 1930s gramophone record player. It sees Badu singing in a soft bluesy baritone comparable to Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. In this section of the song, Badu denies feeling hurt when she finds out that her former lover has a new partner. She sings: "My eyes are green/Cause I eat a lot of vegetables/It don't have nothing to do with your new friend". The second movement, dubbed "acceptance", features bass guitar, flutes, and piano and is a lot jazzier, featuring brush-stroke drums by Questlove. In this section she sings: "I can't remember the last time I felt this way about somebody/You've done something to my mind/And I can't control it/But I don't love you any more/Yes I do, I think/Loving you is wrong". In the third section, she finally succumbs to her emotions and reveals at once, feelings of regret, abandonment, and unfulfilled promises, as well as a yearning to rekindle an affair which almost certainly consumed her, and which she has yet to move on from: "Don't you want be strong with me?/You told me we could have a family/Want to run to me when you're down and low/But times get tough and there you go/Out the door, you wanna run again/Open your arms and you'll come back in/Wanna run cause you say you're afraid". Because of her highly publicized involvement with André Benjamin, many assumed that she was referring to their break-up in the song and also on her song "Tyrone", however both parties have stated that there is no animosity between them and that they are on good terms, and speak regularly (it is worth noting that "Tyrone" was recorded in 1997, while the pair were still an item). Benjamin responded to the rumors in the song "A Life in the Day of Benjamin André (Incomplete)", from the 2003 Outkast album, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.
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