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


Lyrics submitted by bloodangel

You Want It Darker Lyrics as written by Patrick Leonard Leonard Cohen

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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You Want It Darker song meanings
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  • +3
    My Interpretation

    Cohen was almost certainly thinking of the Abraham/Isaac story, where he responds "hineni" to G-d at the beginning when he is called. He's used that story many times in his songs.

    "Magnified, sanctified, be thy holy name, vilified, crucified, in the human frame" are two lines, that are from two different sources. The first part does not have anything to do with Christian themes.

    "Magnified, Sanctified be thy holy name" is a straight English translation of the first four words of the Kaddish, a Jewish prayer. and while all versions of that prayer start this way, he is no doubt in context referencing the Mourner's Kaddish that is said by close relatives of a deceased person after their burial.
    However, "villified, crucified, in the human frame" is certainly a reference to Jesus.

    He's flowing between different traditions here taking from each what fits his litany of suffering that he addresses to G-d in this song.

    iceboxon November 13, 2016   Link

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