DE ICE HOUSE SONG

Shake yuh right foot, shake you right foot
An' leh yuh left foot stand !
Shake yuh right foot, shake you right foot
An' leh yuh left foot stand !

1
On the mornin' o' de fire
Lord Nelson came down
He form de soldiers in a line,
An' he blow de ICE House down.

Chorus:-
Save John Gill, Save John Gill,
An' leh de Ice House burn,
Save John Gill, Save John Gill,
Leh de Ice House burn !

2
De Ice House in pawn
For a five-dollar note
For to buy a rocking chair
An' a silk sofa coat.

Chorus:-
Cease firing, cease firing
Don't limber up on me*
Cease firing, cease firing,
Don't limber up on me.

*limber up- "a phrase with a salacious meaning."

The Ice House burned in February 1860. Not only were ice and luxuries stored and sold there, but it served as a restaurant and hotel to the planter and commercial set and to the tourist.
Nelson, of course, died some 55 years previously- "poetic license".
Barbadians believed that the fire was deliberate ("in pawn").
John Gill was a popular chemist who dispensed medicines to the poor at cheap prices.
The tune is similar to a mazurka.

With musical score, pp. 4-5.
Trevor G. Marshall, Peggy L. McGeary and Grace Thompson, 1981 and reprints, Folk Songs of Barbados, Ian Randle Publishers, Kingston, Jamaica.