Leonard Cohen had already made his peace with death and was 'ready to die'

Leonard Cohen has passed away at age 82, but the music legend was "ready to die".

Last month, Cohen gave an in depth interview to The New Yorker ahead of his album You Want It Darker, in which he spoke about his declining health and the fact that he'd made peace with death.

At the time, Cohen was even making the preparations saying: "I've got some work to do. Take care of business. I am ready to die. I hope it's not too uncomfortable. That's about it for me," Cohen says.

His latest - and seemingly last - record opens with the title track, You Want It Darker, the chorus of which states: "I'm ready my Lord."

Cohen told The New Yorker: "I know there's a spiritual aspect to everybody's life, whether they want to cop to it or not. It's there, you can feel it in people-there's some recognition that there is a reality that they cannot penetrate but which influences their mood and activity. So that's operating.

"That activity at certain points of your day or night insists on a certain kind of response. Sometimes it's just like: 'You are losing too much weight, Leonard. You're dying, but you don't have to cooperate enthusiastically with the process.' Force yourself to have a sandwich.

"What I mean to say is that you hear the Bat Kol. You hear this other deep reality singing to you all the time, and much of the time you can't decipher it. Even when I was healthy, I was sensitive to the process. At this stage of the game, I hear it saying, 'Leonard, just get on with the things you have to do.' It's very compassionate at this stage. More than at any time of my life, I no longer have that voice that says, 'You're f*****g up.' That's a tremendous blessing, really."