The Secret of Lil' Markie Revealed

Video: Quicktime file of Large Happy Man holding Lil' Markie captive inside his body.
MP3s: 17 Lil' Markie tracks below the jump.

Listeners to Kenny G's show or Irwin's old show Incorrect Music may recall the pleadings of a certain helium induced duck-child named Lil' Markie, as he begged his mother not to abort him (Diary of An Unborn Child MP3), or his drunken Daddy not to feel so bad about killing him (Story of An Alcoholic Father MP3). As bizarre Christian Kiddy records go, the Lil' Markie material stands alone.

But something never felt right to me about Lil' Markie. For one thing, he looked human, but he sounded suspiciously like a puppet. But there were no strings to be found. From the sound of it, Markie carried himself like a well respected leader of the  Christian Puppet community, but unlike Lil' Joey, Lil' Harry or Lil' Jackie, not only were there no strings, there were no hands up the back, no hinged dummy-jaws. Nothing to suggest puppetry. It didn't make sense. To my mind, the helium duck-child voice was not of human origin.

Now at last, the mystery is solved. The other day on the Bomarr blog, this video surfaced (Quicktime file). In it, you will see video footage of a Large, Happy Man singing the praises of Jesus. But that's not the strange thing. About halfway through the video, the voice of Lil' Markie emerges from The Large Happy Man.

This is visual proof that The Large, Happy Man swallowed Lil' Markie whole and is now exploiting him on tours of churches around the United States!! When Lil' Markie sang Use Me (MP3), he didn't mean this! The actual identity of the Large Happy Man has not been verified, but he claims to be one Mark Fox.

Ignore Mark Fox's preposterous claims and jump below the fold for Otis Fodder's MP3 collection of Lil' Markie tracks, plus other Lil' Markie links. Thanks to Otis, Bomarr, and Pea Hicks.

The Lil' Markie collection curated by Otis Fodder:

Serving The Lord
Diary of An Unborn Child
Jesus Put The Stars In The Sky
Let The Sun Shine In
Story of An Alcoholic Father / Something's Happened To Daddy
I Have Jesus In My Heart Today
J-E-S-U-S
The Little Light of Mine
Lil' Markie Goes To Calvary
I Will Obey The Lord
Medley - B-O-R-N A-G-A-I-N /  For God So Loved The World
I Am Only Me
I'm Going On For Jesus
Do You Believe In God?
Use Me
I'm Rejoicing In The Lord
Serving The Lord

More Lil' Markie Malarkey:
A live journal diary from the perspective of Lil' Markie

Betterhollywood films has a video using "diary of an unborn child" as the soundtrack. Scroll down about halfway to find the clip called "Why Did You Kill Me Mommy?"

UPDATE: Pea Hicks sent me the full, unedited video from which the above clip was excerpted. Here they are in four parts: Part One  |  Part Two  |  Part Three  |  Part Four (windows media clips)

 

Comments

[Listener Jim]

I just KNEW that the Li'l Markie video was going to end up here. I figured that Kenny G. would be posting it, though. And the Otis Fodder collection, too! I don't know whether to say "thank you" or run home screaming.

My vote for my favorite L.M. song that isn't "Diary of an Unborn Child" would have to be for "Li'l Markie Goes to Calvary", which starts off as a freaky comedy routine and then suddenly turns into a serious Jesus-on-the-cross redemption story. The absolute best/worst of creepy Christian children's recordings.

[nh_dave]

Watching that video makes me wonder if anyone in the crowd when he switched persona went 'look out! he is possessed by satan!'. That is very creepy to say the least. But as always Ken, thanks for unearthing this hehehe

-Dave

[LUKEY]

This stuff is horrible. really scary and violent

[Tom]

On an only somewhat interesting note, Bongwater samples "Story Of An Alcoholic Father" on their version of "You Don't Love Me Yet."

[fatty jubbo]

yowza! what a week for BWOTB!

[Alex]

Building on what Tom said (above)...Bongwater's "Double Bummer" LP was the first time I heard Lil' Markie in a post-modern context...even the chameleon-voiced Ann Magnuson could barely compete with the echo-laden Lil' Markie samples. But (as they say) - never follow dogs or children.

[Kip W]

That tune was so naggingly familiar, and suddenly I realized, it's almost identical to "Have it your way / at Burger King..."! Bad craziness, thanks!

Anybody know where I could get more than 60 seconds of the Click Kids' "Fugitive From God"? It's in a RealAudio file in "Incorrect Music," but it's a format I can't download. Has anybody made the whole cut available to techno-klutzes?

[kevin]

is that billy corgan in the womb?

[annukka]

Oh my GOD! I nearly passed out when I found this, thank you a thousand times. I have listened to the Diary of-song everytime i've wanted to freak myself out. It will be nice to hear what else this guy has come up with. Thanks again!

[jmont]

what's odd is that i distinctly remember a version of this song where the fetus was named andy, but otherwise a word for word version of Diary. can anyone back me up on this?

[mexican_observer]

There's a song in spanish, sung by a lady, that tells the same story - the fetus singing happily about its expectations - and then hears their parents argueing and then its aborted, but holds no bad feelings for its mother. It's called "gracias mama" (thank you mom) by Trigo Limpio a mexican(?) group. No silly kid-duck voices tough.

[Rodney]

Note that the TV Carnage "Casual Fridays" DVD has a clip of Mark Fox singing/repeating the phrase "Shalom, shalom peace be with you" in his Lil' Markie voice for some five minutes. Unlike this clip, there is no abrupt transition from Big Markie voice to Lil' Markie voice; its just full-on scary Lil' Markie.

[k.v.z.]

I AM SO DISTURBED! And once again, WFMU does it! Thanks for uncovering the mystery behind the most depraved, disgusting thing ever put to vinyl. Brrr!

[paul]

i don't think they uncovered it. looks like it debuted on a blog called "the bomarr blog" first. but it's cool that they put all this stuff together.

[matt]

Ugh,
I couldn't get through the the "Li'l Markie Goes to Calvary" mp3. It is garbage, it is strange and absurd garbage but it is garbage nonetheless. He's just pathetic enough to rob me of any laughs I might get out of it. So that is pretty pathetic. Don't play this crap, thanks. Is this supposed to be "ousider music?" Frankly that is a slap in the face of some of the more affable types that folks like to have a laugh at the expense of.

[david hornbuckle]

thanks so much for providing these.. i have been dying to find all of the lil' markie songs for years. and as much as i was tempted to pay upwards of $50 for it on ebay, i could never actually bring myself to do it.

one thing though.. the last track appears to be misnamed, since it is a very different song than the first one of the same title. does anybody know its real title? thanks.

[david hornbuckle]

well, i contacted otis about it, and apparently there were actually two different songs titled "serving the lord" on two different albums. so, that answers my question.

[Otis Fodder]

Here are the tracks and notes that accompany the audio compilation:

01. Serving The Lord
02. Diary Of An Unborn Child
03. Jesus Put The Stars In The Sky
04. Let The Sun Shine In
05. Story Of An Alcoholic Father... "Something's Happened To Daddy"
06. I Have Jesus In My Heart Today
07. J-E-S-U-S
08. This Little Light Of Mine
09. Little Markie Goes To Calvary
10. I Will Obey The Lord
11. Medley: B-O-R-N A-G-A-I-N/For God So Loved The World
12. I Am Only Me
13. I'm Going On For Jesus
14. Do You Believe In God?
15. Use Me
16. I'm Rejoicing In The Lord
17. Serving The Lord

Tracks: 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 10
Lil' Markie Volume 1
All songs written by Rick & Rosemary Wilhelm
Arrangements by Wayne Campbell
Produced by Berry Jennings & Wayne Campbell
Recorded/Mixed at The Music Room, Lynchberg, VA
Engineered by Don Jennings
Musicians: Wayne Campbell, Berry Jennings & Neil Goode

Tracks: 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
Lil' Markie Volume 2
Produced by Mark Fox
Recorded at Paragon-Benson Recording Studio, Nashville, TN
Engineered by Steve Ellis
Musicians: Randy Dennis
Track 12 by Carol Fox, featuring The Little Fluffy Cloud

Tracks: 4, 5, 7, 8, 11
Little Bits For Children Everywhere
Producer: Nelson Keener
Arrangements: Wayne Campbell
Engineer: Don Jennings
Recorded/Mixed at The Music Room, Lynchberg, VA
Musicians: Wayne Campbell, Berry Jennings, Dan Hodges & Steve Reitenour
Story Written by Mark Fox

[Dickalicious Butterylicious]

Here's 1 more Lil Markie song for you die hard fans. Not his best work but what the hey.

http://www.butterylicious.com/MP3z/LilMarkie/Jesus_Wants_to_Live_in_You.mp3

[Amanda Wrind]

Hi.

[the almighty]

just about as surreal as it gets

[KRISTY JONES]

WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW I CAN GET SOME CD'S OF RICK AND ROSEMARY'S MUSIC FROM THE DAYS AT LIGHTHOUSE CHURCH IN ANTIOCH TENNESSEE
GREW UP AS A YOUNG TEEN AND LOVED THE MUSIC AND THE FAMILY

[Grue]

From watching the 4-part TV special link on this site, I can safely say that this man had a fucked up childhood...

[Chris Juul]

I am sickened to the core... and I like it :). I picked up Diary Of An Unborn Child at a thrift store in the middle of nowhere for $.75 about 10 years ago. I bought it because the cover looked intriguing. I have since dented the psychi of many unwilling and unsuspecting listeners.

Watching these videos actually gives me the chills. It chills me that anyone could watch this adult man-child and not feel sorry for him. It chills me that there isn't a doctor who can see the obvious signs of multiple personality disorder staring them in the face... it frightens me that adults were making their children watch this.
"December 24th... the day, my mother KILLED ME, KILLED ME, killed me, killed me..."

PS: Geraldine and Ricky will be "performing" live on the 29th thru the 31st of March, 2006 in the Clearwater, Bradeton and Lakeland, Florida areas...

[Cynical Man]

A weird sidenote in the adult singing as child genre is the Dolly Parton song "Me And Little Andy" in which Dolly does a little Markie in a pathetic song about a child of an alcoholic and her puppy out in a storm.
Here is a write-up on the choon with lyrics and audio:
http://www.houseofdiabolique.com/hall/dolly/dolly.htm