Tape Recorder Man - Momus

Tape recorder man

Come all ye rounders if you

Want to hear the tale

Of a tape recorder man

Tape recorder man

He travelled far and wide

Through the dusty countryside

The tape recorder man

Tape recorder man

Collecting songs of love

Collecting songs of blood

Sometimes songs of evil men

And sometimes songs of good

And sing irie aritty ardie and

Sing irie arrity anne

Tape recorder man

He said the age of the machine

Would make us all the same

The tape recorder man

Tape recorder man

And we should tape record the

Songs the old men sing

The tape recorder man

Tape recorder man

Because when the old were gone

There'd be no more songs

Just mechanical din

Tape recorder man

And sing irie aritty ardie

And sing irie arrity anne

Tape recorder man

At a music festival he presented to

The world some of the folk greats

Tape recorder man

Then with a condescending smile

He introduced us all to

Some electronic fakes

Tape recorder man

Saying 'The old folks don't need

Gimmicks to make the music new

But here's a group of college

Kids who apparently do

And sing irie aritty ardie and

Sing irie arrity anne

Tape recorder man

And he left the stage to seek some nerdy

Boffin geeks who sounded like the Pogues

Singing like the BeeGees dancing

Like freaks playing modular Moogs

I met him in the dressing room

At the end of the show

I said you used to be my hero

But tonight you've fallen low

And sing irie aritty ardie

And sing irie arrity anne

Tape recorder man

I said tape recorder man

Damn your Memorex

What about innovation man

What about art and sex

He couldn't share my point of view

And he freely said so

So me and the tape recorder

Man quickly came to blows

I hit out at his shoulder where

His tape recorder hung

It slipped to the floor with a crash

The strap must've been undone

And sing irie aritty ardie

And sing irie arrity anne

Tape recorder man

It exploded like a bomb from

The first world war

And seven spools of folk

Recordings rolled across the floor

A random burst of yodelling

Rubbed up against the heads

That woozy crazy spool was

Like John Cage or Varese

I cried 'Tape recorder man

This I won't forget

This is folk music concrete

And sing irie aritty ardie and

Sing irie arrity anne

Tape recorder man

Tape recorder man

Tape recorder man

And sing irie aritty ardie

And sing irie arrity anne

Tape recorder man

Tape recorder man