artist:  Leonard Cohen

songwriter:  Leonard Cohen

date released:  released on October 21, 2016, on the album of the same name  17 days before Cohen's death. 

Leonard Cohen's "You Want It Darker," the title track of his final album released in 2016, 17 days before his death.  I first heard this song in a university class when the lecturer played it to us but did not explore its deeper meaning.  I was mesmerized, and I wanted to dig deeper.  Clearly this song was a memento mori of sorts.  Cohen was nearing death, and he knew it.  

"Darker" stands as a profound meditation on mortality, faith, and existential resignation. Written in Cohen's final months, as he battled leukemia and declining health, the song emerges from a place of deep reflection and acceptance. Cohen composed much of the album from his home in Montreal, where his frail condition required him to work from a medical chair, illustrating both his physical limitations and unwavering dedication to his craft.

The song's mood is sombre, underscored by its minimalist arrangement and the haunting accompaniment of the Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue choir, reflecting Cohen's Jewish heritage. The recurring line, "Hineni, hineni, I'm ready, my Lord," holds profound significance. "Hineni" is Hebrew for "Here I am," a term from the Torah often spoken by figures like Abraham when called by God, signaling readiness and submission. Cohen's use of "Hineni" is a powerful declaration of his preparedness to face death, embodying both reverence and a stark confrontation with his own mortality.

Symbolism permeates the song. The line, "If you are the dealer, I'm out of the game," suggests Cohen's acknowledgment of life's transience and his resignation from worldly pursuits, possibly alluding to the idea that the divine orchestrates the ultimate "game" of life and death. Furthermore, "Magnified, sanctified, be thy holy name" mirrors the Kaddish, a Jewish prayer for the dead, embedding the song within rituals of mourning and remembrance.

Cohen's mental state during the writing of "You Want It Darker" was contemplative yet unflinchingly honest. Despite physical suffering, he approached his impending death with poetic clarity, neither succumbing to despair nor cloaking his fear. Instead, he navigated his reflections with a characteristic blend of spiritual inquiry and sardonic wit, as evidenced in the song's title itself—suggesting both an indictment of humanity's darkness and an acceptance of life's inherent suffering.  The Buddhists intone:  "Alll is suffering."  Reaching Nirvana is a place of the absence of suffering.  

The song functions as a prophetic farewell. Cohen’s lyrical gravitas, interwoven with sacred references and existential musings, makes "You Want It Darker" a poignant testament to his life-long exploration of the sacred and the profane. It is not merely a song about death; it is a final conversation with the divine, a relinquishing of earthly attachments, and a poetic acceptance of the inevitable.  Why cling to life?  It was intended to be as all things---impermanent.   

~ChatGPT

Leonard Cohen discusses the recurring line, "Hineni, hineni, I'm ready, my Lord," in the following video.  His son, Adam Cohen, is by his side.

https://youtu.be/g9BlBsCtFzw?si=dEEdjS7-jMteTuOK

Leonard Cohen discusses Bob Dylan Winning the Nobel Prize for Literature:

https://youtu.be/nc4VYwK9fz4?si=LfzJDxvA_GKWaJBc