"You Want It Darker" is a song by Canadian poet and musician Leonard Cohen, released on September 21, 2016, on Cohen's 82nd birthday. It is the title track from Cohen's album You Want It Darker, which was released on October 21, 2016, seventeen days before Cohen's death.
The song earned Cohen a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance. It features the vocals of Cantor Gideon Zelermyer and the Shaar Hashomayim Choir. The music was composed by Patrick Leonard, with lyrics written by Leonard Cohen. The song was produced by Adam Cohen and Patrick Leonard and released under the Columbia label, with a running length of 3 minutes and 48 seconds.
Critic Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described the song as "a menacing critique of religion" that "flips from anger to resigned acceptance and back again." Publications Far Out and American Songwriter ranked the song number seven and number three, respectively, on their lists of the 10 greatest Leonard Cohen songs.
The song was later recorded by Iggy Pop for the 2022 tribute album Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen.
Chart performance for "You Want It Darker" in 2016 included the following peak positions: number 27 in Switzerland, number 29 in Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders), number 33 in Austria and the Netherlands, number 52 in Sweden, number 73 on the Canadian Hot 100, number 76 in France, number 81 in Germany, and number 22 on the US Billboard Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart.
