Come Out, Ye Black & Tans - Irish Folk

Come Out, Ye Black & Tans, written by Dominic Behan as a tribute to his father Stephen Behan, the melody was adapted from an old air, Rosc Catha na Mumhan (Battle Cry of Munster), by the 18th-century poet Piaras Mac Gearailt. Lyrics: 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 neighbours 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 the 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 will sing, "Godspeed!" With a verse or two of Steven Behan's chorus.