Now a little old lady by the name of Ma Baker lived out of town on one square acre In a little white house with a picket fence all around She had a kind and a gentle way till the day the TVA Tried to make Ma Baker sell her little acre of land They showed her a map of how the river ran and a sketch of a brand new dam But Ma Baker wouldn't sell her little acre of land She said Pa left this to me sonny and I wouldn't sell for love nor money No sir Ma Baker's gonna keep her little acre of land The next time they came they brought the sheriff Found Ma a rockin' in an old porch chair Just a knittin' and a rockin' out in the evening sun She said I think you best to wait and don't just step through the picket gate And on Ma's lap they noticed Pa's old shotgun [ harmonica ] Yeah now out in the middle of the brand new lake is a little island of one square acre And Ma Baker's just as happy as she can be And she can't swim but she can float and catch big bass from her motor boat And when the wind ain't blowin' too much she can water ski Yeah and my Baker still owns her little acre of land