Boney M. | Ma Baker (1977)
"Ma Baker" is a song by disco group Boney M. released as a single in 1977. It was the first single off their second album Love for Sale and their third consecutive chart-topper in Germany. The song was a huge success in Europe, topping the charts in many countries.
1977-06-15 19:00:00 - Boney M
Frank Farian's assistant Hans-Jörg Mayer discovered a popular Tunisian folkloric song, "Sidi Mansour" while on holiday, and rewrote the song into a disco track.
The lyrics by Fred Jay were inspired by the story of legendary 1930s outlaw Ma Barker, although the name was changed into "Ma Baker" because "it sounded better".
With a structure similar to Boney M.'s breakthrough single "Daddy Cool" with the same gimmick percussion, alternating answer-back vocals, a spoken mid-part, the song opened with a snarling "Freeze, I'm Ma Baker, put your hands in the air and gimme all your money".
Although it has never been officially credited, the voice was done by Linda Blake, the wife of Frank Farian's American friend Bill Swisher who was a soldier in Germany at the time. Bill Swisher performed the spoken mid-part, announcing a bulletin from the FBI. He was used on several later Boney M. recordings, including "Rasputin" and "El Lute". Frank Farian re-recorded the song with Milli Vanilli in 1988. Boney M.'s version was remixed the same year, 1993 and again in 1998. The song has been covered a number of times by Banda R-15, Knorkator and others. The "ma ma ma ma" chorus vocals were also sampled in Lady Gaga's "Poker Face".