"Ma Baker" is a song by German band Boney M., released as a single in 1977. It was the first single of their second album Love for Sale and their third consecutive chart-topper in Germany and their best yet placing in the UK, peaking at no. 2 (only surpassed by Donna Summer's "I Feel Love") although only a minor single in the US (no. 96).

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.

In Germany, Benelux, United Kingdom and Yugoslavia, the single came out backed with a cover of The Yardbirds' "Still I'm Sad" which even charted on its own in Sweden (no. 17). In Germany, the first single pressing came out with a backcover with tour dates and a 4:47 version with a slightly different mix, leaving out the verse line "of one who left no friends", plus it features a longer instrumental outro which can be heard in the 1988 remix. "Still I'm Sad" also fades four seconds later than the album version. This pressing was also released in Yugoslavia. Although the LP cover would also list the timing 4:47 of "Ma Baker", it was the much more common second single mix 4:33 that was included in the album. Subsequent German single pressings featured a picture of Boney M. and their tour crew Black Beauty Circus on the backcover.

...
Wikipedia