Didn't know that Boney M's Ma Baker song was (loosely or very loosely) based on real life 1930s USA supposed-outlaw Ma Barker!
"Freeze! I'm Ma Baker, put your hands in the air and give me all your money."
This is how the song starts with these lines being spoken not sung. I have quite good recall of the above lines and the "Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma Baker" lines that are sung in the song. I have heard this song and the initial spoken lines of it, many times in the late 70s and 80s (the song was released in 1977, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Baker). It was quite popular among English song fans in Bombay then.
Here's the audio of the song with lyrics being shown in the video: Boney M. - Ma Baker Lyric Video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH0ADtWZ59U, 4 min. 7 secs. [The lyrics in the video are inaccurate in a few places. It should be mowed NOT moved and so on. Here's what seems to be an accurate version of the lyrics: https://genius.com/Boney-m-ma-baker-lyrics.]
I think I viewed it as quite a freaky song then. But it did make an impression on me in the period when I first got exposed to it which was either in my late teens or early twenties (late 70s or early 80s). USA has lots of gun violence - that was the message I think I took from this song, even if I did not really know whether this was for real or not. I must add that later, in second half of 1980s and early 1990s, when I stayed and travelled in New England part of USA and also travelled in New York and New Jersey states, for around 19 months in total, and had a short two month stint in Santa Barbara, California, and visits to Los Angeles and San Francisco, I never ever saw any person holding up anybody at gunpoint. The only real guns I would have seen would have been with state troopers and there too, I do not recall seeing any state trooper holding up his/her gun (out of his/her holster). But then these areas are NOT in the Mid-West of USA.
The wiki page for the song states, '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".[1]' [Wiki Ref 1: Baker, Che (17 June 2017). "This Ma Baker has a little bone to pick", http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/opinion/93727399/this-ma-baker-has-a-little-bone-to-pick. Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 6 September 2018.]
Recently I read about Ma Barker and saw some parts of a documentary on the FBI shootout that ended her life and one of her sons' life.
Given below are extracts from Ma Barker's wiki page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Barker :
Kate Barker (née Clark; October 8, 1873 – January 16, 1935), better known as Ma Barker and sometimes as Arizona Barker, was the mother of several American criminals who ran the Barker-Karpis gang during the "public enemy era" when the exploits of gangs of criminals in the Midwest gripped the American people and press. She traveled with her sons during their criminal careers.
Barker was killed during a shootout with the FBI, and she gained a reputation as a ruthless crime matriarch who controlled and organized her sons' crimes. J. Edgar Hoover described her as "the most vicious, dangerous, and resourceful criminal brain of the last decade". She has been presented as a monstrous mother in films, songs, and literature. However, those who knew her insisted that she had no criminal role, and they allege that Hoover created such accusations to excuse the FBI for killing her.
--- end wiki extracts ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Barker#Death states that she and her son Fred did die in a shootout with the FBI.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Barker#Controversy_over_leadership_of_Barker_gang disputes the FBI view that Ma Barker was the leader of the criminal gang (which is what the Boney M song conveys but with Ma Baker instead of Ma Barker).
Here's a documentary of the shootout (which may be quite inaccurate especially with respect to Ma Barker's role in the shootout; she is shown firing a machine gun at FBI agents) [also there are repeats of clips in it and so watching it can be tedious at times]: The 1935 Ma Barker Gang F.B.I. Massacre - from "Deadly Shootouts", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXSqE3bLb3M, around 23 mins.
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Boney M - Ma Baker, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR6eKmqSEa0, 4 min. 5 secs.
Boney M performing it live in 1979. The lead male signer is bare chested - folks who don't like to see such stuff should not see the video. Boney M. - Ma Baker (Sopot Festival 1979) (VOD), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c5yPIQ3LQI, 4 min. 38 secs.
This is how the song starts with these lines being spoken not sung. I have quite good recall of the above lines and the "Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma Baker" lines that are sung in the song. I have heard this song and the initial spoken lines of it, many times in the late 70s and 80s (the song was released in 1977, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Baker). It was quite popular among English song fans in Bombay then.
Here's the audio of the song with lyrics being shown in the video: Boney M. - Ma Baker Lyric Video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH0ADtWZ59U, 4 min. 7 secs. [The lyrics in the video are inaccurate in a few places. It should be mowed NOT moved and so on. Here's what seems to be an accurate version of the lyrics: https://genius.com/Boney-m-ma-baker-lyrics.]
I think I viewed it as quite a freaky song then. But it did make an impression on me in the period when I first got exposed to it which was either in my late teens or early twenties (late 70s or early 80s). USA has lots of gun violence - that was the message I think I took from this song, even if I did not really know whether this was for real or not. I must add that later, in second half of 1980s and early 1990s, when I stayed and travelled in New England part of USA and also travelled in New York and New Jersey states, for around 19 months in total, and had a short two month stint in Santa Barbara, California, and visits to Los Angeles and San Francisco, I never ever saw any person holding up anybody at gunpoint. The only real guns I would have seen would have been with state troopers and there too, I do not recall seeing any state trooper holding up his/her gun (out of his/her holster). But then these areas are NOT in the Mid-West of USA.
The wiki page for the song states, '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".[1]' [Wiki Ref 1: Baker, Che (17 June 2017). "This Ma Baker has a little bone to pick", http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/opinion/93727399/this-ma-baker-has-a-little-bone-to-pick. Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 6 September 2018.]
Recently I read about Ma Barker and saw some parts of a documentary on the FBI shootout that ended her life and one of her sons' life.
Given below are extracts from Ma Barker's wiki page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Barker :
Kate Barker (née Clark; October 8, 1873 – January 16, 1935), better known as Ma Barker and sometimes as Arizona Barker, was the mother of several American criminals who ran the Barker-Karpis gang during the "public enemy era" when the exploits of gangs of criminals in the Midwest gripped the American people and press. She traveled with her sons during their criminal careers.
Barker was killed during a shootout with the FBI, and she gained a reputation as a ruthless crime matriarch who controlled and organized her sons' crimes. J. Edgar Hoover described her as "the most vicious, dangerous, and resourceful criminal brain of the last decade". She has been presented as a monstrous mother in films, songs, and literature. However, those who knew her insisted that she had no criminal role, and they allege that Hoover created such accusations to excuse the FBI for killing her.
--- end wiki extracts ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Barker#Death states that she and her son Fred did die in a shootout with the FBI.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Barker#Controversy_over_leadership_of_Barker_gang disputes the FBI view that Ma Barker was the leader of the criminal gang (which is what the Boney M song conveys but with Ma Baker instead of Ma Barker).
Here's a documentary of the shootout (which may be quite inaccurate especially with respect to Ma Barker's role in the shootout; she is shown firing a machine gun at FBI agents) [also there are repeats of clips in it and so watching it can be tedious at times]: The 1935 Ma Barker Gang F.B.I. Massacre - from "Deadly Shootouts", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXSqE3bLb3M, around 23 mins.
==================
Boney M - Ma Baker, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR6eKmqSEa0, 4 min. 5 secs.
Boney M performing it live in 1979. The lead male signer is bare chested - folks who don't like to see such stuff should not see the video. Boney M. - Ma Baker (Sopot Festival 1979) (VOD), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c5yPIQ3LQI, 4 min. 38 secs.
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