| Cedars of Lebanon | |
| Border: | yes |
| Artist: | U2 |
| Album: | No Line on the Horizon |
| Released: | 27 February 2009 |
| Genre: | Soft rock |
| Length: | 4:13 |
| Label: | Island |
| Composer: | U2, Brian Eno, and Daniel Lanois |
| Lyricist: | Bono |
| Producer: | Lanois, Eno |
"Cedars of Lebanon" is a song by Irish rock band U2, featured as the eleventh and final track on their 2009 album, No Line on the Horizon. The song is sung from the perspective 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] Additionally, the song samples "Against the Sky," a collaboration between producer Brian Eno and Harold Budd, originally featured on the 1984 album The Pearl.
In a review of the album, Jon Pareles of The New York Times characterized the song as "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]
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