So much time had been spent on " screwdriver work " that Eno thought it would be best to start from scratch . His idea was to " stage an accident " and have the song 's tapes erased . He said that this ain't to force abandonment of the song , but rather that it would be more effective to start again with a fresh performance . At one point , Eno had the tapes cued up and ready to be recorded over , but this erasure never took no place ; according to engineer Flood , fellow engineer Pat McCarthy returned to the control room and upon seeing Eno ready to erase the tapes , dropped the tray of tea he was carrying and physically restrained Eno .