Irish descendants come out ye black and tans lyrics

Listen: LoFi | Download | Chords
From: Songs of Ireland

words by Dominic Behan, music traditional

I was born on a Dublin street where the Royal drums do beat
And the loving English feet they tramped all over us,
And each and every night when me father'd come home tight
He'd invite the neighbors outside with this chorus:

Oh, come out you black and tans,
Come out and fight me like a man
Show your wives how you won medals down in Flanders
Tell them how the IRA made you run like hell away,
From the green and lovely lanes in Killashandra.

Come let me hear you tell
How you slammed the great Pernell,
When you fought them well and truly persecuted,
Where are the smears and jeers
That you bravely let us hear
When our heroes of sixteen were executed.

Come tell us how you slew
Those brave Arabs two by two
Like the Zulus they had spears and bows and arrows,
How you bravely slew each one
With your sixteen pounder gun
And you frightened them poor natives to their marrow.

The day is coming fast
And the time is here at last,
When each yeoman will be cast aside before us,
And if there be a need
Sure my kids wil sing, "Godspeed!"
With a verse or two of Steven Beehan's chorus.

KEY C

verse/chorus:
C F C
C G
C F C
C G F C

Background: Here's an Irish Rebel song by Dominic Behan that will get your Irish blood pumping! It mentions Dominic's Irish Republican father, Stephen.

Traditional Folk and Celtic Lyrics Homepage | Irish Folk Song Lyrics | Scottish Folk Song Lyrics | English Folk Song Lyrics | Comedy & Filks | Irish Songs & Lyrics Celtic Radio | Make an Online Donation | Subscribe to our Free Newsletter

The Irish War of Independence (and the subsequent conflicts) have produced a great many songs from the rebel perspective. Though interestingly enough there aren't many songs from the opposite perspective, and even fewer that have as their subject the Irish Civil War.

I don't know why this is, but if I had to hazard a guess I'd say it's because most of the "rebel" songs about the Irish War of Independence were actually written long after the war was over, so they're looking back on the conflict and celebrating it and drawing parallels to the current conflict (and by current I mean whatever conflict was going on when the songs were written).

Such a song is "Come Out Ye Black and Tans", which purports to be about an IRA man in Dublin who would come home from the bar and call out his neighbors daring them to come fight him.

It's a rousing song that's incredibly easy to sing along with. My favorite version is by a group called The Irish Descendants (they're Canadian)

Come Out Ye Black and Tans

Of course it's full of historical inaccuracies.

I was born in a Dublin street Where the loyal drums do beat, And the loving English feet walked all over us; And every single night when me dad would come home tight, He'd invite the neighbours out with this chorus:

Chorus:

Come out you black and tans, Come out and fight me like a man, Show your wife how you won medals down in Flanders; Tell her how the IRA made you run like hell away, From the green and lovely lanes of Killeshandra. Come tell us how you slew Them ol' Arabs two by two, Like the Zulus they had knives and bows and arrows; Of how bravely you faced one with your sixteen-pounder gun, And you frightened all the natives to the marrow.

Chorus

Come let us hear you tell How you slammed the brave Parnell, And taught him well and truly persecuted; Where are the stares and jeers that you proudly let us hear, When our heroes of sixteen were executed.

Chorus

Oh! Come out you British Huns, Come out and fight without your guns, Show your wife how you won medals up in Derry; You murdered sixteen men and you'll do the same again, So get out of here and take your bloody army.

Chorus x2

On to the bad history!

I was born in a Dublin street

True enough. The song was written by Dominic Behan, a famous Irish author/songwriter/poet who was born in Dublin

And every single night when me dad would come home tight, He'd invite the neighbours out with this chorus

Highly unlikely. Dominic would have needed to borrow Edward's time machine for this. Dominic was born in 1928. The events described in this song couldn't have happened after 1923.

Come out you black and tans

The Black and Tans were an auxiliary police force hired to help supplement the RIC and the British Army. They consisted of ex British soldiers who had fought in WWI. A complementary group was the Auxiliary Division which consisted of ex-British officers. The Auxiliary Division was supposed to focus on doing counter-insurgency work, and the Black and Tans were supposed to act as policemen to bolster the police forces.

Both groups would end up being called the Black and Tans. It's highly unlikely that Dominc Beehan heard his father calling out to the Black and Tans to come out and fight after 1923, because the Black and Tans and the Auxiliary Divison were recruited starting in 1919 and were disbanded by 1922.

In addition the Black & Tans were stationed in hot spots, mostly in rural areas of the country. Thus it would be highly unlikely for a unit of them to be stationed in Dublin itself, especially in a Loyalist neighborhood.

Finally it would be unlikely to Black and Tans in Dublin proper, because the vast majority of them were not Irish (most of them were English). Those neighbors of Dominic's who were part of any military force were far more likely to be part of the RIC than anything else.

Tell her how the IRA made you run like hell away, From the green and lovely lakes of Killeshandra.

I've been interested in the Irish conflict for many years (though I haven't studied it like I've studied the American Revolution), and I've never been able to find any action that took place in Killeshandra. I've read many of the action reports from county Cavan (which Killeshandra is part of) and haven't ever seen anything regard any action against the Black and Tans in Killeshandra. I've asked experts in the Irish War of Independence the same question and they haven't been able to tell me anything either.

However there was a very famous action against the Auxiliary Division in the area of Kilmichael, which involved 36 members of Tom Barry's flying column killing 17 Auxiliary Division members.

The event is depicted in this scene from the movie Wind That Shakes the Barley

It seems odd that Behan's father would use an unknown action to taunt his neighbors, and I kind of think that the action that was meant was the Kilmichael one--only it doesn't fit into the line as well as does Killeshandra.

Come tell us how you slew Them ol' Arabs two by two, And you frightened all the natives to the marrow.

I have no idea what action this could be. The Wikipedia page on the song seems to think that this is reference to the Arab revolt of 1920. However that presents a major problem with the timeline, since the Black and Tans were composed of ex-British soldiers who were mostly recruited in 1919. Very unlikely that any British soldiers who participated in the Arab revolt would have made it home in time to sign up for the Black and Tans.

Maybe it's an event in WWI, but the British didn't see much combat against Arab forces in WWI, and most of it was limited to light weapons.

Like the Zulus they had knives and bows and arrows;

The Anglo-Zulu war was fought in 1879. Any member of the Black and Tans or Auxiliary Division who had fought in that war would be at least 60 years old (assuming that they were 16 when they fought against the Zulus). I guess it's not beyond the realm of possibility that a few members of the B&Ts or the Auxiliaries had participated in the Anglo-Zulu war but I find it highly unlikely.

Of how bravely you faced one with your sixteen-pounder gun

Well the British didn't use 16-pounder guns in the Anglo-Zulu war. In fact I'm not sure that the British army fielded any 16 pounder guns at all. /u/Georgy_K_Zhukov and /u/nmw would probably know more about this than I would.

The primary artillery piece in WWI would have been the 18-pounder gun, not a 16-pounder gun. This gun fires a 68 pound projectile using a 16 pound powder charge, but I really doubt that the song is referring to a 19th century gun.

How you slammed the brave Parnell

This refers to Charles Stewart Parnell, one of the major figures in 19th century Irish resistance. He died in 1891 of pneumonia, so it's quite possible that Behan's Loyalist neighbors might have slandered the brave Parnell.

When our heroes of sixteen were executed

Refers to the execution of the leaders of the Easter rebellion.

Oh! Come out you British Huns

r/Badanthropology! The British can't be Huns, because the Huns were a group of people who lived in Eastern Europe and who disappeared by the 7th century A.D.

This last verse isn't a Dominic Behan original, but it's still got badhistory in it.

Show your wife how you won medals up in Derry

This refers to the actions of Bloody Sunday (1972) when British troops shot 26 civilians. No medals were given out for this action.

You murdered sixteen men and you'll do the same again

Actually 14 men were killed that day. Thirteen died immediately or very soon after. One died from his wound 4 1/2 months later.

What does Black and Tans mean in Ireland?

Who wrote Come Out Ye Black and Tans?

Why was Come Out Ye Black and Tans written?