"Cactus Tree" is such an anthem song for her I think, "...While she was busy being free..."
One of her best melodies, the way it rolls restless earthbound before climbing up like a smoke signal.
Cactus Tree was written on October 12, 1967. Joni introduced it this way on that date at the Second Fret in Philadelphia:
Three nights ago I went to a movie in New York City – a Bob Dylan movie. The new Bob Dylan and Joan Baez live feature movie
[ed: Don't Look Back]. And I’d never seen Dylan perform, you see, so I wondered why David Blue and Eric Andersen, though they were supposed to be imitators of Dylan, neither one of them were alike and I found out that Eric has Dylan’s sense of humour and David Blue is his grouchiness. At least that is in my humble opinion. But, uh, I’m about to be influenced by Mr. Dylan. You see, I’m late to this and everybody who started out as songwriters, at this point has been influenced by Mr. Dylan. Well, to this point, I don’t think I have. At least, I haven’t noticed. This is, by the way it’s a photograph of me, but it’s not intended to impress you. It’s a cue card for me. This song I just wrote today, so if you notice the melody sort of varies from verse to verse it’s because I haven’t really decided on a few things so I’m throwing them all out at you. Every time I hear whispering, I’ll take that part out. 'Doesn't hold their attention there'...