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I have a memory of a word like zephirchain or zephyrchain that I heard as a lyric in a song by Mike Oldfield. When I search the lyric websites they seem to have heard something else. (Maybe I "kissed the sky" when I should have been doing something else?)

From the context of the song it sounded like it was an ambulance of a hearse.

The synonym and dictionary websites also don't make any useful suggestions that I can find.

Does such a word exist or am I suffering from the Rashomon effect?

Edit: Sorry. The song was "Crime of Passion" The word is at the end of the tenth or so line, that starts, "And then he saw her moving away in a ..." about 1:23 into the song ( vimeo. com/14715762 has a recording.)

Clarification: My ears and brain strongly disagree with the lyric websites, (which is why I deliberately didn't list the song in the first place.) I memorised this song before the fist website was ever written. If the lyric websites are wrong then just quoting the from them isn't helping. I grew up with my brain soaked in British regional accents, and none of them, (that I can manage) stretch to a person's name in this particular lyric. I would ask Oldfield, but by now he might be an unreliable narrator because of extensive assisted musical exploration.

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  • 1
    sepulcher/sepulchre?
    – Phil Sweet
    Jan 30, 2021 at 21:28
  • 2
    What song? What do the lyric sites say is the word?
    – Laurel ♦
    Jan 30, 2021 at 21:53
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    You have to find the title of the song to delay having your question closed. We will even work by listening to a clip. But a while goos chaise leaves us at a loss of how to help.
    – Yosef Baskin
    Jan 31, 2021 at 0:05
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    Not enough information here. We need the benefit of the entire context -- you haven't even said what the "something else" might be, or the song involved, and yet you must know the title if you have found a site thinks it's something else. Please give as much information as possible.
    – Andrew Leach ♦
    Jan 31, 2021 at 11:19
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    I’m voting to close this question; interpretation / conversion of speech to text are off-topic.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Feb 8, 2021 at 14:33

1 Answer 1

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The words are here. Having listened, I can confirm that the following is correct. The way the woman's name is pronounced places the syllable stress unusually - this is to fit in with the tune.

He pronounces it as eliz-A-beth jane with the accent on the "A" syllable. Normally this would be pronounced e-LIZ-abeth jane.

He stood to see if he could catch her breathing

But it was no good, he understood she was leaving.

He looked outside the frosty window pane

And then he saw her moving away, Elizabeth Jane.

https://www.metrolyrics.com/crime-of-passion-lyrics-mike-oldfield.html

P.S. Note that "Jane" rhymes with "pane" from the previous line.

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  • I've seen the lyrics sites and they feel auto-generated or from a different performance than the one on my record. I posed this question precicely because my ears don't hear it that way, and it seems poeticly clunky for Oldfield, (even if he was emotionally distressed.)
    – Alexx Roche
    Feb 8, 2021 at 14:21
  • @Alexx Roche - Thanks for your comment. I'm not quite sure what you are saying. I answered from having listened to the song and from what I heard. I referred to a text that supported my understanding. As a musician I could write the words and music to show how the unusual emphasis works if that would helpful.
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Feb 8, 2021 at 15:38
  • Thank you chasly. You have already been too kind. I'm probably wrong, so don't worry.
    – Alexx Roche
    Feb 12, 2021 at 0:18

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