"Cedars of Lebanon"
Song by U2
from the album No Line on the Horizon
Released27 February 2009
GenreSoft rock
Length4:13
LabelIsland
Composer(s)U2, Brian Eno, and Daniel Lanois
Lyricist(s)Bono
Producer(s)Lanois, Eno

"Cedars of Lebanon" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the eleventh and final track on their 2009 album No Line on the Horizon. It is sung in the character of a war correspondent who is "squeezing complicated lives into a simple headline"[1] and who "observes "this shitty world" where the aroma of a rose "lingers and then it just goes".[2] The song samples producer Brian Eno's collaboration with Harold Budd, "Against the Sky", from the 1984 album The Pearl.

Reception

In a review of the album, Jon Pareles of The New York Times called the song "a somber meditation on war, separation and enmity".[3] Comparing the song with "Moment of Surrender" on the same album, NME reviewer Ben Patashnik described "Cedars of Lebanon" as "similarly downbeat but no-less-enthralling", and said that the song "is buoyed by Larry Mullen Jr's martial drumming and a twinkling guitar".[4] The Sydney Morning Herald called the song a "masterful closer", and said that the "backing vocals, ambient noises and restraint seal a deal alongside the atmosphere of philosophical weariness."[5]

Personnel

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Donovan, Patrick (27 February 2009). "No Line on the Horizon". The Age. Melbourne. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
  2. ↑ Kootnikoff (2010), p. 139
  3. ↑ Pareles, Jon (2 March 2009). "Last Gang in Town". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 14 October 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  4. ↑ Patashnik, Ben (26 February 2009). "No Line on the Horizon". NME. Archived from the original on 29 May 2010. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  5. ↑ Zuel, Bernard (28 February 2009). "U2: No Line on the Horizon (Universal)". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  6. 1 2 Owens, Catherine (2009). No Line on the Horizon (Box format hardback book). U2. Interscope Records. B0012638-00.

Bibliography

  • Kootnikoff, David (2010). U2: A Musical Biography. Santa Barbara: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-36523-2.
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