The song “Come Out, Ye Black and Tans,” covered in 2000 by the Irish Descendants, is an Irish rebel song that refers to the Royal Irish Constabulary, (RIC), who acted as “the British Crown’s enforcers and had a long-standing record of brutality during Ireland’s War of Independence” (Reilly 2020). It was originally released by the Wolfe Tones in 1972.
The constables were called “the Black and Tans” because of the uniforms they wore during the War of Independence era. It is in the same melody as the loyalist song “Boyne Water.”
The line “Come out ye black and tans / come fight me like a man” implies the centuries-long tensions between Northern and the Republic of Ireland, as the North is still part of Britain in 2020. More specifically, the context of this song is an argument between Irish Republican and Loyalist neighbors in inner-city Dublin during the 1920s.
“The Wolfe Tones’ Rebel Song ‘Come Out Ye Black and Tans’ Tops UK and Ireland Charts.” NME, 10 Jan. 2020, www.nme.com/news/music/wolfe-tones-rebel-song-come-out-ye-black-and-tans-tops-uk-ireland-charts-2594839.