Artifact 2: “Come out, ye Black and Tans” a Song by the Wolfe Tones

“Tell her how the IRA,

made you run like hell away,

from the green and lovely lanes of Killeshandra!”

Part of the chorus of Come Out, ye Black and Tans.

This protest song is generally attributed to the Republican activist and writer Dominic Behan, and was made popular again in 1972 by The Wolfe Tones’ rendition. Behan wrote the song as a tribute to his father, who fought in the original Irish Republican Army. He is the child of the generation which followed those who fought in the War of Independence, represented in Goulet’s monument in the previous exhibit. However, the tone of the song is one of reverence and triumph as opposed to the anguish expressed in the Ballyseedy memorial. The song also serves as a recounting of the excesses and crimes of the British empire, jeering at the hypothetical Black and Tan soldiers to inform everyone of their ‘heroism’.

“Come tell us how you slew them poor Arabs two by two /

Like the Zulus, they had spears and bows and arrows.”

These lines reference British colonialism in the Middle East and Africa and connect the revolts against British rule in those regions to the Irish struggle for independence. The expression of solidarity with other ethnic communities that are in a similar position to the Catholics in Northern Ireland, either by the British Government or another colonial ruler, is commonplace. Consequently, the disgust expressed in this song for all things British that are outside of Britain extends to any connection between Republicans and the British Government. Whether it be willful decommissioning, the Good Friday Agreement, or secret talks between the IRA and the British PM’s office, Nationalism has consistently splintered when any opportunity to work with the British government arises. This division is partially an intentionally strategy by the U.K. government, but is also an inevitable reality based on the absolute hatred expressed in this song which still remains today.