Meaning of the Song: “You Want It Darker” by Leonard Cohen

“If you are the dealer, I’m out of the game
If you are the healer, it means I’m broken and lame
If thine is the glory then mine must be the shame
You want it darker
We kill the flame

Magnified, sanctified, be thy holy name
Vilified, crucified, in the human frame
A million candles burning for the help that never came
You want it darker

Hineni, hineni
I’m ready, my lord

There’s a lover in the story
But the story’s still the same
There’s a lullaby for suffering
And a paradox to blame
But it’s written in the scriptures
And it’s not some idle claim
You want it darker
We kill the flame

They’re lining up the prisoners
And the guards are taking aim
I struggled with some demons
They were middle class and tame
I didn’t know I had permission to murder and to maim
You want it darker

Hineni, hineni
I’m ready, my lord

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

If you are the dealer, let me out of the game
If you are the healer, I’m broken and lame
If thine is the glory, mine must be the shame
You want it darker

Hineni, hineni
Hineni, hineni
I’m ready, my lord

Hineni
Hineni, hineni
Hineni”

Lets go through it part by part, as I understand it. I believe the “you” in the song that Cohen is singing about, is God.

If you are the dealer, I’m out of the game
If you are the healer, it means I’m broken and lame
If thine is the glory then mine must be the shame

This essentially means: If God (you) exists then whatever I do has little meaning. Me as a free actor is nullified if everything good I’ve ever done is because of God.

If God is the dealer, me as a free will agent might as well be out of the game because God still deals the cards however he wishes.

If God always heals me it means I am not responsible for my own healing. If anything, I am more the cause of the negative aspects — all the good is because of God. If God has the glory then what is left is the bad.

Believing in God easily takes out all the good aspects of being human. This resembles Nietzsche’s God is dead.

You want it darker
We kill the flame

The understanding above, that God cannot exist, actually leads to the conclusion that you want it darker. Reality is much more dark than a world light up by the image of God.

Magnified, sanctified, be thy holy name
Vilified, crucified, in the human frame
A million candles burning for the help that never came
You want it darker

God is magnified and sanctified whereas the human spirit is vilified. A million candles = a million prayers and human hoping God will solve their problems. That help will not arrive.

Hineni, hineni
I’m ready, my lord

Hineni is Hebrew for “here I am” and is the response Abraham gives when God calls on him to sacrifice his son Isaac. Similarly, I think Cohen is ready to sacrifice his belief in God. He is ready to meet the real God within himself. Ready for reality.

There’s a lover in the story
But the story’s still the same

No idea what Cohen means here, haha.

There’s a lullaby for suffering
And a paradox to blame
But it’s written in the scriptures
And it’s not some idle claim
You want it darker
We kill the flame

A lullaby for suffering = religion. Belief not in reality of your world but rather in some godlike supreme being (lullaby in the sense that it is built on a fairytale and in the end often leads to suffering nonetheless)

It is a paradox to to believe all good you do is because of God because ultimately then you are not responsible for it.

It is written in the scriptures i.e. Bible, Quran.

They’re lining up the prisoners
And the guards are taking aim

This could mean bad things are in the process of happening and God will not stop them (for example wars, holocaust have already happened).

I struggled with some demons
They were middle class and tame

Middle class demons are what most humans struggle with. Addictive behavior, minor and major.

I didn’t know I had permission to murder and to maim
You want it darker

If your sense of morals came from a belief in God, the shattering of that belief will lead you to have permission to do basically whatever. The universe is indifferent.

Hineni, hineni
I’m ready, my lord

Once again ready to understand reality. After this Cohen simply repeats parts already sung before.

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

If you are the dealer, let me out of the game
If you are the healer, I’m broken and lame
If thine is the glory, mine must be the shame
You want it darker

Hineni, hineni
Hineni, hineni
I’m ready, my lord

Hineni
Hineni, hineni
Hineni”