"The Deck of Cards" is a recitation song that was popularized in the fields of both country and popular music, first during the late 1940s. This song, which relates the 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 19th-century British publication entitled "The Soldier's Almanack, Bible And Prayer Book"

Story Edit
The song is set during World War II, where a group of U.S. Army soldiers, on a long hike during the North African campaign, arrive and camp near the town of Bizerte. 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 judged. The provost marshal demands an explanation and the soldier says that he had been on a long march, without a bible or a prayer book. He then explains the significance of each card:

Ace: one God.
Deuce: the Old Testament and New Testament in the Bible.
Trey (three): the Holy Trinity.
Four: St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John.
Five: the five wise virgins in the parable of the Ten Virgins.[Matthew 25:1-13]
Six: the number of days taken by God to create the earth according to the Genesis creation narrative.
Seven: the day on which God rested, now known as the Sabbath.
Eight: The people God saved during the Great Flood: Noah, his wife, their three sons and their wives.
Nine: out of the ten lepers cleansed by Jesus, according to the Gospel of Luke (see Luke 17:11-19), who didn't even bother to thank Him.
Ten: the Ten Commandments handed down by Moses.
King: Jesus Christ; King of Kings, Lord of Lords.
Queen: Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Jack or knave: Satan or the Devil.
365 spots: the number of days in a year.[2]
52 cards: the number of weeks in a year.
Thirteen tricks (in a game of whist or bridge) or values: the number of weeks in a season, or quarter of a year.
Four suits: the number of seasons in a year [in some versions: the number of weeks in a month]
Twelve face, picture or court 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 was the soldier in question or that he knew/knows him.

The story as told contains an error in the number of days in a year. In a standard deck, there are 220 (4×(1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10)) spots on the pip cards and if it is assumed that the face cards have 11, 12 and 13 spots respectively, the total is 364. A single joker counting as one spot, however, would make 365. A version of the legend dating to 1865 cites the unreliability of existing almanacs as a justification for this apparent error