Arthur Lee was the leader of the Los-Angeles-based band Love (hence the lyric "Believe in love"), who led a troubled life. After playing the song at a gig at the Iron Horse, Robyn talked a bit about how Lee found out about the song and was angry about it at first (presumably because the title seems less than complimentary). Ultimately he understood it was meant as a tribute.

Robyn talked about this song on the promo record SPECTRE, on which he explains each of the songs on RESPECT:

"I was listening to a lot of stuff by Love, which was Arthur Lee's group,
back in the sixties, when I was in L.A., making a previous album. I
thought, God, I must try writing more songs where, they keep jumping
-- all these different movements, like they used to do in the sixties a
lot -- sort of, having three-minute songs with loads of different
movements in them. I must write some more jumpy stuff with lots of
chords in, like a lot of Arthur Lee's songs were. And I came back,
got drunk ... I had jetlag so I woke up about three or four hours with
a hangover and there was nothing to eat in the house but I was wide
awake, and the sun was streaming through the windows and it was July,
and I was suddenly back in England. And I picked up the guitar and
made up 'The Wreck of the Arthur Lee.' As you said, it prob'ly doesn't
need explaining [laughs]."