Little Axe is American musician Skip McDonald (born Bernard Alexander in Da… Read Full Bio ↴Little Axe is American musician Skip McDonald (born Bernard Alexander in Dayton, Ohio, on 1 September 1949. After being part of the house band for Sugarhill Records, McDonald assumed the moniker "Little Axe" and began moving from hip hop to a form of blues that drew from an array of musical influences, including dub, R&B, gospel, and jazz.

McDonald learned to play the blues on his father's guitar from the age of 8, although by the time he was 12 years old he had opted to perform doo-wop. Having completed his high school education, he left Dayton with a band called the Ohio Hustlers, which broke up not long after relocating to New York City. His first professional work as a musician began when he formed the Entertainers who toured the east coast through to the mid-70s.

He moved on to Hartford, Connecticut, and there's when he met Doug Wimbish, who played in a band called Wood, Brass & Steel. Wood, Brass & Steel recorded a selftitled album for All Platinum Records, the label of Sylvia and Joe Robinson, in 1976. Skip and Doug played a lot of music together, in clubs and colleges around New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

In 1979, three years after the Wood, Brass & Steel album, Skip and Doug teamed up with drummer Keith LeBlanc and they became the house band for Sugarhill Records, the Robinson's new label. The trio played on some of the earliest rap hits such as The Message and White Lines (Don't Do It) with Grandmaster Flash.

While they worked at Sugar Hill, LeBlanc also freelanced at Tommy Boy Records where he first met Adrian Sherwood. LeBlanc introduced his colleagues to Sherwood and the trio were persuaded to relocate in London. Upon their entry into the On-U Sound fold, the group formed a production team and, again, a house band, this time for On-U. The three participated in dozens of records on Sherwood's label.

The partnership developed and metamorphosed into a fully-fledged band, Tackhead. Though good working relationships remain to this day, the dispersion of Tackhead in the early 1990s saw Keith and Doug pursue more of their own projects and play less often togther.

For Skip the time since has seen him work ever more closely with Sherwood, both on his own projects and as a musician or guest vocalist on many other of Adrian's On-U Sound productions - such as by Junior Delgado, Bim Sherman, Dub Syndicate and African Head Charge, sometimes along side Keith and /or Doug.

Skip has been the prime mover behind Little Axe since around 1992. Under a name inspired by Bob Marley's Small Axe and gospel singer Willmer 'Little Ax' Broadnax, the debut album Wolf That House Built was a personal take on blues and dub, and was released to critical acclaim in 1994. This had followed a partial release in Japan compiled in a slightly different form and with a different title (Never Turn Back) the previous year. The second Little Axe album, Slow Fuse, was also well received. Both albums featured tabla player Talvin Singh, for Slow Fuse the gifted voices of Kevin Gibbs and Sas Bell were added.

Then it remained silent for far too long. In 2002 Skip's third Little Axe album Hard Grind became the first release for four years on Sherwood's revived and re-launched On-U Sound label with a mixture of raw blues and reggae. While Hard Grind no doubt will also draw comparisons to Moby's Play, it was Skip who pioneered the fusion of blues and electronic music with Little Axe.

In 2006 Skip McDonald finished the fifth Little Axe album, Stone Cold Ohio, after Champagne and Grits (2004), the second record released on Peter Gabriel's Real World Records. Skip still has got the blues but this time the emphasis is on the gospel, another of Skip's old loves. The production and mixing was done Adrian Sherwood; 'gospel dub' like you never heard before.

Prisoner
Little Axe Lyrics

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Each day he finds his way to the graveyard
Without flowers, without prayers
For hours he sits there on the floor
By the people lying there
He doesn't know any name
Written in the cold stones
He spells each of them tenderly
Looks forward to be one of them

He's a prisoner in his own world
Doesn't take the challenge to break out
Poor prisoner in your own world
Is there nothing you can smile about?
Poor prisoner in your own world

Each day he leads his car to his office
Without thinking, without dreaming
He nods to everyone
Without even looking at them
He doesn't know any face
Belonging to those name-plates
Ignores each of them naturally
Refusing to be one of them

He's a prisoner in his own world
Doesn't take the challenge to break out
Poor prisoner in your own world

Is there nothing you can smile about?
Poor prisoner in your own world

Overall Meaning

The song "Prisoner" by Little Axe portrays the life of a person who is trapped in his own world, isolated from others. The first verse describes how he spends his time in the graveyard, sitting among the graves of strangers. He doesn't know their names, but he spells each of them out tenderly, suggesting he longs for connection and meaning in a lonely world. He expects to become one of them someday, a poignant reminder of his own mortality.

The second verse describes his routine at work, where he goes through the motions without any passion or purpose. He doesn't even bother to notice the people around him, ignoring the nameplates on their desks. The repetition of "without" in the first two lines emphasizes his lack of engagement with the world. The chorus reinforces the theme of his imprisonment, asking whether there is nothing he can smile about. He seems resigned to his fate, unwilling to take the challenge to break out and experience life fully.

Overall, the song paints a sad picture of someone who is isolated and disconnected from others. The graveyard symbolizes the human need for connection and community, but the singer is unable to find it. The repetition of "poor prisoner" suggests that the singer pities him, but also sees him as the creator of his own prison.

Line by Line Meaning

Each day he finds his way to the graveyard
Every day he goes to the cemetery

Without flowers, without prayers
He doesn't bring any flowers or pray for the dead

For hours he sits there on the floor
He spends hours sitting on the ground there

By the people lying there
Beside the people buried there

He doesn't know any name
He doesn't know the names of those buried there

Written in the cold stones
Carved into the tombstones

He spells each of them tenderly
He pronounces each name with care

Looks forward to be one of them
He hopes to be buried there one day

He's a prisoner in his own world
He's trapped in his own thoughts and habits

Doesn't take the challenge to break out
He doesn't try to overcome his situation

Poor prisoner in your own world
He's pitifully trapped in his own world