You Want It Darker is the fourteenth and final studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, released on October 16, 2016, by Columbia Records, nineteen days before Cohen's death. The album was created towards the end of his life and focuses on death, God, and humor. It was released to critical acclaim. The title track was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance in January 2018. After touring extensively between 2008 and 2013, Leonard Cohen began to suffer "multiple fractures of the spine" among other physical problems, according to his son Adam Cohen. Due to Leonard Cohen's mobility issues, You Want It Darker was recorded in the living room of his home in Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles and then sent by e-mail to his musical collaborators.

Cohen has said his condition helped him eliminate any distractions during the recording of the album: "In a certain sense, this particular predicament is filled with many fewer distractions than other times in my life and actually enables me to work with a little more concentration and continuity than when I had duties of making a living, being a husband, being a father". Despite his medical condition, Adam Cohen said his father "Occasionally, in bouts of joy, he would even, through his pain, stand up in front of the speakers, and we'd repeat a song over and over like teenagers".



Track List:

01. You Want It Darker [0:04:44.28]
02. Treaty [0:04:02.25]
03. On The Level [0:03:27.51]
04. Leaving The Table [0:03:47.36]
05. If I Didn't Have Your Love [0:03:36.00]
06. Traveling Light [0:04:22.34]
07. It Seemed The Better Way [0:04:21.74]
08. Steer Your Way [0:04:23.36]
09. String Reprise - Treaty [0:03:26.70]

Personnel:
Leonard Cohen - vocals
Bill Bottrell - electric guitar, pedal steel guitar
Michael Chaves - keyboards, bass guitar, drum programming
Adam Cohen - classical guitar
Patrick Leonard - keyboards, organ, piano, bass synthesizer, bass guitar, percussion, drum programming
Rob Humphreys - drums
Brian MacLeod - drums
Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue Choir (Roï Azoulay, Director; Cantor Gideon Zelermyer, vocal)
Zac Rae - guitar, classical guitar, mandolin, keyboards, Mellotron, celesta, piano, Wurlitzer, floor tom, octophone
Background Vocals - Dana Glover (Tracks 3 & 8), Athena Andreadis (Track 6), Alison Krauss (Track 8)