Come Out Ye Black and Tans

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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.

Chords: KEY C

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

Background: This Irish Rebel song was written by Dominic Behan about the Black and Tans, the British paramilitary police force used in Ireland in the 1920s. The lyrics are often misattributed to "Steven Beehan", but the song was, in fact, by Dominc as a tribute to his father, Stephen Behan. It will get your Irish blood pumping!