SONG TO A SEAGULL

★★★★ (Reprise 1968)

“I’m the girl in all these songs,” said Mitchell, but on her David Crosby-produced debut, she hadn’t quite found the transparency that would define Blue. I Had A King was about former husband Chuck Mitchell, Crosby’s hand was on The Dawntreader’s tiller – but specifics often come veiled in fable, all galleons, castles and mountains. Cactus Tree, however, cuts to the core of an ongoing process: “She’s so busy being free.”