The Deck of Cards Songtext

von Tex Ritter

During the North African champagne,
A group of soldier boys had been on a long hike
They came to a town called Cassino.
The next day, being, Sunday, some of the boys went to church,
And after the Chaplin had read the prayer,
The text was taken up next.

Those of the boys who had a prayer books took them out,
But, this one boy only had a deck of cards,
And so he spread them out.

The Sargent saw the cards and said
"soldier, put away those cards."
After the services were over, the boy was taken prisoner,
And brought before the Provost Marshall .
The Marshall said "Sargent, why have you brought this man here?"
"for playing cards in church Sir."
"And what have you to say for yourself son?"
"much sir", replied the soldier.
The Marshall said,"I hope so, because if not, I shall punish you more than any man was ever punished."

The soldier boy said "Sir I have been on a long March for six days
I have neither Bible nor prayer book, but I hope to satisfy you, Sir," with the purity of my intentions."
And with that the boy begin his story.

"You see Sir, when I look at the ace in my deck of cards, it reminds me that there is but one God,
And the deuce, tells me that Bible is divided into two parts, the old and the new testament.
When l see the Trey, I think of father, the son and the holy ghost.
And when I look at the four, I think of four evangelists who preached the gospel.
There were Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

And when I see the five, it reminds me of the five wise virgins, who trimmed their lamp,
There were ten of them,
Five were wise and were saved, five were foolish and were shut out.
When I look at the six, I know that in six days,
God made this great heaven and earth.
And the seven, tells me that on the seventh day,
He rested from his great work,
And called it holy.
And when I see the eight, I think of the eight righteous person,
God saved when he destroyed this earth.
There were none Noah, his wife their three sons and their wives.
And when I see the nine, I think of the lepers our Savior cleansed,
And nine of the ten, didn't even thank him.
And of course when I see the ten, I always remembered the ten commandments,
The ten commandments that God handed down to Moses on a tablets of stone.

When I see the King Sir, I know there is but one King of heaven.
God the Almighty.
And when I see the Queen, I think of the blessed virgin Mary,
The Queen of heaven,
And the jack of knaves is the devil.

When I count the spots in a deck of cards,
I find 365, the number of days in a year.
There are 52 cards, the number of weeks in a year .
There are thirteen tricks, the number of weeks in a quarter.
There a four suits, the number of weeks in a month.
And twelve picture cards, the number of months in a year.

So you see Sir, my deck of cards servers me not only as a Bible or almanacs, but also a prayer book .

(the end).