The song is attributed to Irish songwriter Dominic Behan, who was born into the literary Behan family in Dublin in 1928 (his brother was Brendan Behan).[1][2] The date when the song was written is not recorded, but Behan was active as a songwriter from 1958 onwards. The setting of the song is the Dublin into which Behan was born in the late 1920s, and the main character in the song (who is calling his neighbours "Black and Tans"), is believed to be Behan's father, Stephen Behan,[3] who was a prominent Irish republican, and who had fought in the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War.[1][2] At times, the song's authorship has been mistakenly attributed to Stephen Behan.[1]
Tune
The melody of the song was adapted by Behan from an old air, Rosc Catha na Mumhan (Irish for "Battlecry of Munster"), by Piaras Mac Gearailt [ga] (Pierce FitzGerald, c. 1709 – c. 1792), which is also used by the loyalist song The Boyne Water.[1] A variant of the tune migrated to Scotland and to the Appalachian Mountains, where it became the most common melody for the traditional folk ballad Barbara Allen.[4]
While the song title and lyrics refer to the Black and Tans from the War of Independence, the song itself is a dispute between republican and unionist neighbours in inner-city Dublin in the Irish Free State era of the mid-1920s.[1] During this era, Dublin continued to elect unionist pro-British politicians and voluntary service in the British Army was a popular career choice amongst working-class Dubliners, for both Catholics and Protestants.[1][2] Supporting this tradition was the existence of a relatively large, and now generally forgotten and disappeared, Dublin Protestant working class. It is this pro-British working class, of both religions, that the composer is confronting in the song (a noted representation of this cultural group is Bessie Burgess in the Seán O'Casey play The Plough and the Stars).[1]
In the chorus, the composer is pejoratively labelling his Dublin neighbours, who are pro-British and First World War veterans ("show your wife how you won medals down in Flanders"). He calls them "Black and Tans", and asks them to come out and "fight me like a man", stating that the "IRA" (Irish Republican Army), had made the Black and Tans "run like hell away" from rural Ireland such as the "green and lovely lanes of Killeshandra" (which is in County Cavan, and where, in 1922, ex-RIC and Black and Tan soldiers were forced to retreat from the town after being given a few days warning to leave by the local IRA[5]).[2]
There are variations of the original lyrics that incorporate references to more modern events in Irish nationalism, such as the Troubles.
"Come out ye' black and tans"
I was born in a Dublin street,
where the Royal drums did beat,
the loving English feet, they walked all over us,
and every single night,
when me da' would come home tight,
he'd invite the neighbours out with this chorus:
Come out ye' 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!
Recordings
Wolfe Tones
The most notable recording of the song was by the Irish traditional group, the Wolfe Tones, who recorded the song on their 1972 album, Let the People Sing, and which credited the writing of the song to Joe Giltrap and Wes McGhee (who were traditional musicians but not band members), and an "unknown PD writer".[1] The Wolfe Tones version of the song recharted in 2019–2020 (see below),[6] and the group posted on their Twitter account that the proceeds from the re-charting would be donated to an Irish homeless charity run by Peter McVerry.[7]
21st-century use
Celtic Football Club
In an article about the violence and bigotry surrounding Old Firmfootball matches, the Irish Independent wrote: "Then there's the stereotypical image of the Celtic supporters wearing T-shirts of 'undefeated army' and having their phones ringing to the sound of 'Come out ye black and tans'".[8]
Advertising campaigns
In March 2019, Irish food company, Brady Family Ham, released an advertising video that went viral, which used the tune of the song but with amended lyrics, and replacing the word "Tan" with "Ham", that was directed by Father Ted director, Declan Lowney.[9][1][10]
This Time with Alan Partridge (2019)
In March 2019, episode four of Steve Coogan’s This Time with Alan Partridge, ended with a rendition of Come Out, Ye Black and Tans by Coogan, acting in-character as the fictional Irish performer Martin Brennan (played as an eccentric rural Irish farmer).[2]The Guardian reported that: "Irish Twitter went wild and the Wolfe Tones’ rendition of the song started to penetrate foreign consciousness on easily the biggest scale since Behan apparently put pen to paper".[2]RTE News called it "the TV moment of the year".[11]
RIC commemoration (2020)
In January 2020, the Wolfe Tones' version of "Come Out Ye Black and Tans" reached number 1 on the Ireland and UK iTunes charts, as part of "widespread criticism" of the (Irish) Government's planned commemoration of the RIC, as part of its "Decade of Commemoration" (commemorating the events of 1912–1922 in Ireland).[12][13] As a result of this, on 10 January, the song entered the Irish Singles Chart at No. 33,[14] and also debuted at No. 1 in the Scottish Singles Chart, which only counts paid-for sales and does not include streaming.[15][2] The band committed to donating the proceeds of this recent success to a Dublin-based homeless charity. [12]
^Brian Hughes (October 2019). Defying the IRA?: Intimidation, coercion, and communities during the Irish Revolution (Reappraisals in Irish History). Liverpool University Press. p. 198. ISBN978-1789620764.
