The Deck of Cards

For the set of items used for playing card games, see Deck of cards.

"The Deck of Cards" is a recitation song that was popularized in both the country and popular music fields, first during the late 1940s. This religious tale of a young American soldier arrested and charged with playing cards during a church service first became a hit in the U.S. in 1948 by country musician T. Texas Tyler.

Though Tyler wrote the spoken-word piece, the earliest known reference is to be found in an account/common-place book belonging to Mary Bacon, a British farmer's wife, dated 20 April 1762. The story of the soldier can be found in full in Mary Bacon's World. A farmer's wife in eighteenth-century Hampshire, published by Threshold Press (2010). The folk story was later recorded in a piece of 19th century British literature called "The Soldier's Almanack, Bible And Prayer Book"

Story

"Cards" is set during World War II, where a group of U.S. Army soldiers, on a long hike during a campaign in southern Italy, had arrived and camped near a town named Cassino. While Scripture is being read in church, one man who has only a deck of playing cards pulls them out and spreads them in front of him. He is immediately spotted by a sergeant, who believes the soldier is playing cards in church and orders him to put them away. The soldier is then arrested and taken before the provost marshal to be punished. The provost marshal demands an explanation, to which the soldier explains first that he had been on a long march without a bible or a prayer book, and, then, mentions the significance of each card:

Ace: The one true God.

Deuce: The Old Testament and New Testament in the Bible.

Trey (three): The Holy Trinity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit/Ghost.

Four: St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John, evangelists and authors of the four Gospels.

Five: The two groups of five virgins who trimmed their lamps for a wedding. Five were wise (by saving enough oil) and were admitted, while the other five were foolish (did not have enough oil) and were shut out.

Six: God created the Earth in six days.

Seven: God rested on the seventh day, now known as the Sabbath.

Eight: The eight righteous people whom God saved during the Great Flood: Noah, his wife, their three sons, and their wives.

Nine: Of the ten lepers whom Jesus cleansed, nine of them did not even thank him.

Ten: The Ten Commandments God handed down to Moses.

King: God, the Father.

Queen: Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus and Queen of Heaven.

Jack or knave: Satan or the Devil.

365 spots: The number of days in a year.

52 cards: The number of weeks in a year.

Thirteen tricks: The number of weeks in a season, or quarter of a year.

Four suits: The approximate number of weeks in a month.

Twelve face, or "Picture" cards: The number of months in a year.

He then ends his story by saying that "my pack of cards serves me as a Bible, an almanac, and a prayer book." The narrator then closes the story by stating that "this story is true," by claiming he is the soldier in question. The text does not say whether the provost marshal spared the soldier any penalty, but it is possible to infer from the text that he did.

Flaws

The story, as told, contains flaws, including:

• There are not 365 spots on a deck of cards. On a standard deck there are 220 (4×(1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10)), since the face cards do not contain spots. To come up with 365, one would have to assume that the face cards have 11, 12 and 13 spots respectively, plus assume exactly one joker with one spot. (This itself creates an inconsistency, as the deck in the story is explicitly mentioned as having 52 cards.) No construction of a card deck with four identical suits could contain an odd number of spots.
• Only in February are there exactly four weeks in a month (and even then not in leap years), so the deck would provide a rather unreliable almanac. Similarly there are not exactly 52 weeks in a year, or exactly 13 weeks in a quarter. Nevertheless, rounded to the nearest integers (as playing cards are), these numbers are roughly accurate.
• Although the seven-day week is mentioned as a Godly creation in Genesis, the ideas of months and years are rooted in astronomy and do not have direct Biblical inspiration. In fact, the Hebrew calendar in use during the Old Testament has a lunar component and thus does not use regular years. The regular solar year used in Christianity was adapted from the Julian calendar, itself adapted from the Roman calendar and having no Biblical basis. Since the crime in question was the use of playing cards in church, the astronomical factors would do little to help the accused's case.

Cover versions

T. Texas Tyler's rendition went to number 2 on the country charts in 1948. A version by Tex Ritter later in the year reached number 10 on the same chart.

The highest-charting version was recorded in 1959 by future game show host Wink Martindale, and was performed on The Ed Sullivan Show. Martindale's rendition (titled "Deck of Cards") went to No. 7 on the Billboard charts and number 11 on the country charts in 1959, attained multi-platinum recognition, and reached No. 1 on many worldwide music charts. A later cover by Bill Anderson made number 60 on the country charts in 1991. The song was also a UK No. 13 hit in October 1973 for the entertainer Max Bygraves.

The newly published edition of UK hit singles dating between 1940 and 1952 shows the song reaching number 2 for Phil Harris in January 1949

A Dutch translation, "Het spel kaarten", recited by Cowboy Gerard (real name Gerard de Vries), was a hit in the Netherlands in 1965.

Magician Justin Flom created a magic effect, also based on the song, titled "Soldier's Deck of Cards" which was seen by over 5 million people online.

A German Version of Bruce Low exists with the same idea.

Parodies

• Red River Dave composed a parody, "The Red Deck of Cards" about a U.S. prisoner of war, who hates cards, because the North Koreans tried to teach him Communism by using a deck of cards.
• The Welsh comedian and singer Max Boyce recorded a Wales national rugby union team-themed version.
• In a Spitting Image sketch, Leon Brittan (voiced by Harry Enfield) performs a satirical version when Margaret Thatcher catches him and the rest of the cabinet playing poker in a cabinet meeting.
• Bill Oddie performed a parody version written by Tim Brooke-Taylor and Chris Stuart-Clark about a cricket bat in I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again. This same version was also performed by David Frost and released as a single by Parlophone records in 1966 with Chris Stuart-Clarke's name being misspelled as Stewart-Clarke. A Parlophone promotional single released April 29, 1966, exists which has a John Cleese sketch titled "Zoo Keeper" as the A side but versions are also found with "Deck of Cards" as the A side.
• The Soft Boys with Robyn Hitchcock also recorded a parody version, originally an outtake from "Live At The Portland Arms (Cambridge)". It was released as a bonus flexi-disc with Bucketfull of Brains magazine #23. While the backing is done straight, Hitchcock's recitation veers off from the original as is characteristic of his off kilter and absurd sense of humour. For example, "...when I see the treys, I think of tea time; when I see the four, I think of the Fab Four... John... Paul...George... and Ringo;... ...when I see the six I think of Unit 4 + 2" etc. before concluding with "... I know because I was that bicycle clip."
• British folk singer Mike Harding sang a segment of the song on his 1975 album "Mrs 'Ardings Kid" with the lyric "...and one card spread out his privates..."
• Les Barker, British poet and founder of The Mrs Ackroyd Band, performed a parody (as The Franco-Prussian war of the Spanish succession) on his 1994 album Gnus and Roses, with the memorably absurd line, "...when I see the king, I think: What's Elvis doing working in Tesco?"
• Magicians Penn & Teller have a card trick in their act called The Atheist Deck of Cards with Penn Jillette playing the guitar.
• Eric Idle recorded a parody in which all of the things the soldier is prompted to think of are nonsense. When he looks at the deuce he thinks of how many suits he'd own if he owned two more than he owns now. When he looks at the trey, he thinks of how many legs a bridge table would have if one of them was missing.

External links

• Mary Bacon's World
• Urban Legends
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics