phrase refers to the boxing match between Muhammad ali and ernie tyrell in the late 70's. before the match, tyrell offended ali by calling him 'cassius clay', his 'slave name' according to the MANIFESTOS OF black emancipation movements. during the fight itself, ali, who was winning, kept hitting tyrell and asked by every punch: 'what's my name?'this gave the phrase 'what's my name' a sense of pride. by playing this the clash (see rudi can't fail) cover, the manics wanted to say: 'here we are, you can't ignore us, we are winning...'.this song is about someone who doesn't fit in the normal world and – as an outsider - keeps performing manic actions. The lyrics JDB sings in this version are, apart from a few lines, different than the original.