Century
Big Thief Lyrics

The lyrics from Big Thief’s song Century has a poetic and open-ended quality to it that allows for various interpretations. The song starts with the image of dogs’ eyes in the headlights of the driveway, with cool autumn rain and bugs dying on the windshield on the freeway. This imagery of death and transience is juxtaposed against the line “Wonder if you’ll be the same centuries flower”. The flower is a symbol of beauty and life, and the line indicates a desire for the person addressed in the song, to have a lasting impact beyond the fleeting nature of life.

The second verse brings up a moth flying into a kitchen, with the person addressed hanging up their coat, becoming aware of a need to communicate something significant. It’s suggested that the communication would happen while being physically intimate, as the line “Turn on the shower” precedes the repetition of the phrase “We have the same power”. It can be interpreted as sexual power or the power of love, but regardless of interpretation, the phrase echoes the idea of a union or a connection that surpasses time and death.

The chorus repeats this phrase and uses it as a sort of mantra, emphasizing that the two people have equal power and that this power sustains them. The last verse repeats the idea of confusion and uncertainty, but then ends with a statement of needing just one more hour. This suggests the urgency of the connection, the desire to continue and intensify it despite the uncertainty. Overall, the song appears to be about the desire for a lasting and significant connection with someone despite the inevitability of death and transience.