Songfacts®:

• Like many of Leonard Cohen's songs, "You Want It Darker" takes a look at religion:
  
  Magnified, sanctified, be thy holy name
  Vilified, crucified, in the human frame
  A million candles burning for the love that never came
  You want it darker
  We kill the flame
  
  In press materials, Cohen wrote of this song: "Hypnotic groove. The surprise of a great synagogue choir. An unflinching exploration of the religious mind."
  
  The presser adds: "Cohen created this hypnotic groove with the addition of Montreal's Cantor Gideon Zelermyer and the Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue Choir, whose voices invoke a sound from Cohen's youth."
• This is the title track of Cohen's 14th album, which was released when the poet/songwriter was 82. It was produced by his son, Adam.
• Adam Cohen's production contrasts his father's minimal vocals with Montreal's Cantor Gideon Zelermyer and the Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue Choir. The repeated cries of "Hineni, hineni" translates to "Here I am" in Hebrew. The word is seldom used in modern language but appears nine times in the Torah, when a man responds to God's call.
• During an interview with the Montreal Gazette, Cantor Gideon Zelermyer offered his interpretation of Leonard Cohen's use of the Hebrew word:
  
  "In this case, I think hineni is more a reference to Leonard as someone trying to come to an understanding with God, someone reckoning with final tallies in the Book of Life: Here I am - I am ready."
• The song was first previewed on June 2, 2016 when a segment was played during an erotic asphyxiation scene near the end of Season 3, Episode 5 of the BBC drama series Peaky Blinders.
• This won for Best Rock Performance at the Grammy Awards in 2018.