Cellars of Lebanon
U2’s new album — No Line On the Horizon, has an intriguingly stirring track called “Cedars of Lebanon”. It’s likely that this sentiment harks back to the old country in Ireland with biblical references added for good measure. Rather surprisingly tho, it happens to be a state park close to a respected musical epicenter — namely that of Nashville, TN.
Cedar is one of the most aromatic and resistant types of wood known. The variety known as the Cedar of Lebanon was of especially good quality, solid, not many knots, and of a deep rich reddish color. The trees themselves were of a rather unusual shape – quite wide with branches growing nearly straight out, and a nearly flat top (in contrast to, for example, the North American White or Black Cedar varieties which are seldom as tall and always narrower). They could sometimes reach a height of well over 100 feet (30 meters). Their very name came to symbolize strength and magnificence.
