10 Hits You Didn't Realise Sampled Other Songs
2. Poker Face - Lady Gaga
The second single from Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, aka Lady Gaga's debut studio album, 2008s The Fame, Poker Face was a huge success for the singer, topping the charts in the US, the UK and numerous other countries around the world. Poker Face helped define Lady Gaga's image of brash and unashamed sexuality.
A chief element in that song, the repeated 'ma ma ma ma' phrase, is a sample taken from Ma Baker, by '70s Euro-Caribbean disco group, Boney M. Always a curious outfit, who scored big with such unlikely hits as Rasputin (a song about the mystical adviser to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia) and Rivers Of Babylon (which featured lyrics adapted from the Hebrew bible), Boney M enjoyed major success, with record sales in the tens of millions.
Ma Baker was first recorded by the band for their second album, 1977's Love For Sale. As a single, the song reached number two in the UK and scored big across Europe, including Germany – the country which Boney M called home.