I was born on a Dublin street where the Royal drums did beat, And the loving English feet walked all over us; And each and every night, when me father'd come home tight. He’d invite the neighbours outside with this chorus:
(Chorus) Oh, come out you 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 I.R.A. made you run like hell away From the green and lovely lanes in Killeshandra.
Come, let us hear you tell How you slandered great Parnell, When you thought him well and truly persecuted, Where are the sneers and jeers That you bravely let us hear, When our heroes of sixteen were executed.
(Chorus)
Come, tell us how you slew Them ol' Arabs two by two; Like the Zulus, they had spears and bows and arrows; How you bravely faced each one, With your sixteen pounder gun, And you frightened them poor natives to their marrow
(Chorus)
The day is coming fast And the time is here at last, When each shoneen will be cast aside before us; And, if there be a need, Sure my kids will sing «Godspeed!», With a bar or two of Stephen Behan’s chorus.