Desu is the present positive form of 'be': is. Ka is a question marker when the last sound in a sentence. Japanese grammar also puts desu at the end of sentences. So 'desu ka' is just a combination of the two. I could mean 'isn't it', but that's just a lose translation, I believe.
Notes of a Native Son (1955) is James Baldwin's first book, a collection of essays that are an autobiographical exploration of his experiences growing up in Harlem, his travels in Europe (and the... In the book Native Son, is Bigger's lawyer Max Jewish?
The lyric was written in 1970 by Dave Richardson, then a young policeman in Saanich, BC, as a poem about his girlfriend. He passed it along to his young musician friend David Foster, who was forming the band Skylark.