Vietnam Deck Of Cards

Annotation

Woodrow Wilson "Red" Sovine, a country singer who often played truck driving songs, narrated the track "Vietnam Deck Of Cards" (Starday Records # SLP 414), in which a man told a story about a soldier disciplined for playing with a deck of cards in church, having "arrived in a town called Saigon" on a Sunday. However, the soldier explained that the cards represented stories from the bible, therefore representing his religious faith. At the end of the song the narrator revealed that "friends, this story is true, because my son was that soldier". The idea for this song originally came from T. Texas Tyler who released "Deck of Cards" (4 Star Records # 1228) in 1948 about a World World Two soldier. In the same year Tex Ritter recorded a cover of this - "Deck of Cards" (Capitol Americana # 40114). Then Red River Dave produced a re-worked version for the Korean War in 1953 - "Red Deck of Cards" (TNT # TNT 1003).1 Dozens of covers of these various versions have since been recorded. In 1991 Bill Anderson re-wrote it for the 1st Gulf War - "Deck of Cards" (Curb Records # 76855)."Deck of Card" versions (Vietnam era): Bill Wright, Sr. - "The Deck of Card" (Decca Records # 31851) Bill Cook - "Vietnam Soldier and a Deck of Cards" (Athem Records # A-111) Red Sovine - "Vietnam Deck of Cards" (Starday Records # SLP 414) Sources1Billboard, 5 December 1953↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: In was during the Vietnam conflict a bunch of soldiers had been on a long hike and they arrived in a town called Saigon / And the next day being Sunday several of the boys went to church / After the chaplain read the prayer the text was taken out / Those of the boys who had prayer books took them out / But one boy had only a deck of cards, so he spread them out / The Sergeant in charge of the boys saw the cards / And said soldier put away those cards / And after the service was over the soldier was taken prisoner and brought before the provost Marshall.... / The soldier replied...I've been on the march for six days and I had neither Bible nor prayer book / But I hope to satisfy you sir with the purity of my intentions / You see sir when I look at the ace it reminds me there is but one God / And when I see the deuce it reminds me that the Bible is divided into two parts... / It reminds me that in six days God made this great heaven and earth / And when I see the seven it reminds me that on the 7th day God rested... / So you see sir my deck of cards served me as a Bible... / And friends this story is true because my son was that soldier

About the artist

American country singer, born 7 July 1917 in Charleston, West Virginia ('Giant of the Hill'); died 4 April 1980 in Nashville, Tennessee. [Source: Wikipedia]

In collections

US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs [War Years] · US Combat Perspective Songs [War Years]