I was born on a Dublin street where the royal drums did beat
And the loving English feet they walked all over us
And every single night
When me da' would come home tight
He'd invite the neighbors 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 Killashandra

Come let us hear you tell
How you slandered great Parnell
When you fought him well and truly persecuted
Where are the sneers and jeers
That you loudly let us hear
When our leaders of sixteen were executed

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 Killashandra

Come tell us how you slew
Them old Arabs two by two
Like the Zulus they had spears and bows and arrows
How bravely you faced one
With your sixteen pounder gun
And you frightened them damn natives to the marrow

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 Killashandra

Now the time is comin' fast
And I think them days are here
When each English seánín he'll run before us
And if there'll be a need
Then our kids'll sing "Godspeed!"
With a verse or two of singing this fine 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 Killashandra
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 Killashandra