Come Out, Ye Black and Tans

Come Out, Ye Black and Tans is an Irish rebel song referring to the Black and Tans, or "special reserve constables" (mainly former World War I army soldiers), recruited in Great Britain and sent to Ireland from 1920, to reinforce the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) during the Irish War of Independence. The song was written by Dominic Behan as a tribute to his Irish Republican Army (IRA) father Stephen, who had fought in the War of Independence, and is concerned with political divisions in working-class Dublin of the 1920s. The song uses the term "Black and Tans" in the pejorative sense against people living in Dublin, both Irish Catholic and Protestant, who were pro-British. The most notable recording was in 1972 by the Irish traditional music group The Wolfe Tones, which re-charted in 2020.