I think this song is about being so in love but also not being able to compromise oneself in the name of this love. Joni states, "And she's so busy being free" to note that she is too involved in her own life and is unsure of how to open up completely. Her love for him is seen as restrictive and a barrier to her own mind and freedom. I think that the key point that Joni makes in this song is that love involves the freeing of self with another person and being able to feel freedom while still attached to another. Love should not be a barrier. She is unable to feel the depth of this love as her heart is dull and hollow like a cactus tree. She is putting up yet another barrier by feeling this love for him when really she needs to learn how to be free with another person. This is the truest of love as well as freedom - it is the undoing of one another that reaches the deepest emotions and states of being: love and freedom and how to reconcile the two seeming extremes.
I think this song is about being so in love but also not being able to compromise oneself in the name of this love. Joni states, "And she's so busy being free" to note that she is too involved in her own life and is unsure of how to open up completely. Her love for him is seen as restrictive and a barrier to her own mind and freedom. I think that the key point that Joni makes in this song is that love involves the freeing of self with another person and being able to feel freedom while still attached to another. Love should not be a barrier. She is unable to feel the depth of this love as her heart is dull and hollow like a cactus tree. She is putting up yet another barrier by feeling this love for him when really she needs to learn how to be free with another person. This is the truest of love as well as freedom - it is the undoing of one another that reaches the deepest emotions and states of being: love and freedom and how to reconcile the two seeming extremes.