select *
from table ab
left join table a on (a.id = ab.a_id)
left join table b on (b.id = ab.b_id)
-- where b.string occurs first
order by ab.id


ab.id | ab.a_id | ab.b_id | a.string | b.string
-----------------------------------------------------
  1      63        59       'good bye'   > 'hello' -- appears first here
  2      75        67       > 'hello'    'sounds good'
  3      77        78       'have fun'   'awesome'