This is reggae performed in a light bouncy pop style. The rhythm is pleasant to listen to but the singer doesn't so much sing as recite the verses to this song, which kind of spoiled it for me. (The recitation doesn't have enough of a sense of rhythm to qualify as a precursor to rap music.)
Johnny Wakelin (born 1939) was from Brighton in England. "Black Superman (Muhammad Ali)" was a tribute to Ali's victorious fight over George Foreman in 1974 in Zaire, which was known as "The Rumble in the Jungle". The song reached #21 on the Billboard Hot 100, #7 on the UK singles chart, and went all the way to #1 nationally in Canada.
In 1976, Wakelin released "In Zaire", another song commemorating the same fight. It features rhythmic percussion and call-and-response vocals; to me, it is an attempt to create African-style music that doesn't quite come off. It reached #4 in the UK and the top ten in several European countries but did not chart in North America.
Wakelin did not achieve any success after that but has kept on trying - he has released a total of 12 albums between 1975 and 2007. When the soccer club from his home town, Brighton & Hove Albion F.C., nicknamed the Seagulls, reached the 1983 FA Cup final, he recorded a song called "When Seagulls Fly" to commemorate the occasion.
Created November 5, 2026.