Ira, a cab driver with a Jewish first name and Norwegian surname, is not referring to an actual relative, but to his fellow black man.

"He's half-and-half, but I'll take one per cent of that. A nigga could win and they say he lost. I believe in that Mission: Impossible shit, and they do it, too."

Mission: Impossible shit refers, of course, to a conspiracy theory, the prevalent ideology among the politically apathetic. I expected to hear some of this in New York, but not to have it evoked by the image of Tom Cruise dangling from a wire in a vote-counting room.

"Bush is stealing from this country - him and his crony [Dick Cheney, 8th cousin of Barack Obama]. They bleeding this country dry. Don't let nobody else say it, but let me say it: this country ain't shit. Don't let nobody else say it, but I can say it."

If Ira was a true believer in conspiracy theory, he probably would have droned on about it, and his closing remarks on the subject would not have contained that note of patriotism. Instead, the conversation turns to music ("I love soul music. I tell these kids: rhythm and blues is like coke with a cut on it") and his personal history. He was here 40 years ago, when Frank Lucas became the first black man to wrest control of the East Coast drug trade from the Mafia: "You seen that movie [Ridley Scott's] American Gangster? I used to deal with his lieutenants, until I became my own best customer. I've been clean for 18 years and dry for three." It's a reminder of the dearth of positive black-American role models outside the realm of show-business, and of how, though it comes too late for Ira, an Obama presidency is likely to change at least this.

As we say our farewells, Ira invites me and my friends to the church in Harlem where, when he's not touring the globe with his Drifters tribute band, he sings in the choir on Wednesday mornings: "Just look for the Black Jew. And you'll probably see some of your homeboys from England there too, because people come from all over."