Come Out, Ye Black and Tans

Uncommon card · No. 101919

"Come Out, Ye Black and Tans", also known simply as "The Black and Tans", is an Irish rebel song, written by Dominic Behan, which criticises and satirises pro-British Irishmen and the actions of the British army in its colonial wars. Its title refers to the Black and Tans, mainly former British Army soldiers, who reinforced the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) during the Irish War of Independence and committed many acts of violence and terror against the Irish population. The song initially describes Behan's father Stephen Behan coming home drunk and provoking pro-British neighbours, referencing political divisions in working-class Dublin of the 1920s and 1930s. It then continues to list examples of British injustice against Ireland, linking it to colonial violence of the British Empire. The term "Black and Tans" is used pejoratively in the song to describe Irish people living in Dublin, both Catholics and Protestants, who were pro-British. Behan composed the lyrics in the early 1960s, to...

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