Songfacts®:

• In this bass-heavy rocker, Phil Lynott celebrates Black leaders and cultural icons, shouting out Martin Luther King, Muhammed Ali, Bob Marley, Robert Mugabe, Robert Johnson and Jimi Hendrix. But oddly, he throws shade on Stevie Wonder, making these snide references:
  
  I don't want no songs for plants
  Wonder released an album in 1979 called Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants.
  
  I want liberty living in the city
  A reference to Wonder's song "Living for the City."
  
  Wonder may not have been known for his activism at the time, but he would be soon: Less than a year after Lynott released this song, Wonder led a rally in Washington, D.C. to push Martin Luther King's birthday as a national holiday.
• Lynott, was the son of a white Catholic single mother at a time when even mere illegitimacy was taboo. His father was from the West Indies. Phil spent time between Manchester and Dublin, moving in mostly white circles, but he identified as black, as is clear in this song.
• This was part of Phil Lynott's first solo album, Solo In Soho. At the time, the was still active in his group Thin Lizzy, which was more popular than ever.
• "Ode To A Black Man" was released as the B-side of a song called "King's Call," which is not a tribute to Martin Luther King, but to Elvis Presley. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Alexander Baron - London, England
• That's Huey Lewis, who had recently formed Huey Lewis and the News, on harmonica.