The Red Deck Of Cards

The Red Deck Of Cards ((aka Deck Of Cards (Phil Harris) - 1948; A Hillbilly's Deck Of Cards (Ferlin Husky) - 1966
Cards Spiritualised; The Soldier's Almanac Bible And Prayer Book))
((Dutch Version: Het Spel Kaarten (Cowboy Gerard & De Rodeo Riders - 1965))
Composer(s): T. Texas Tyler - Dave McEnery
Performer(s): Red River Dave McEnery - 1954



It was during the last days of the prisoner exchange in Korea
I was there as they came through Freedom Gate
Shattered, sick and lame

There in a red cross tent as the weary group rested, a soldier broke out a deck of cards
A look of hate crossed the tired face of one boy as he sprang up - knocking the cards to the ground
As the cards lay around, many of them face up, he picked up the Ace and began

"Fellows," he said, "I'm sorry, but I hate cards
The commies tried to use them to teach us their false doctrine

They told us the "Ace", meant that there's one God, the state
We knew that to be untrue for we were religious boys"

"And the "Deuce" meant there were two great leaders
Only two
Lenin and Stalin
And we couldn't swallow that either"

"And this "Trey" stood for three religious superstitions that the Reds would soon destroy
The Catholic, the Protestants and the Jewish"

This black "Four", the soldier boy continued, stood for the four corners of the earth
where the Hammer and Sickle would soon rein supreme
There in that prison camp, far away from home, we hoped it was a lie

And this red "Five", was the five points in their Red Star
Tears were streaming down the boy's face, as he picked up the six

And this "Six", the commies told us, stood for the sixth and final wars that America had luckily won
The Revolutionary war, the war of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish American war, WW1, and number six - WW2
Now in this war, this cold war, America would be destroyed

And the "Seven", stood for our seventh foolish day, Sunday, which we wasted on our Lord

The "Eight", stood for the 8 hours every day we would have to spend learning to be, uh, progressive

The "Nine", for the cat-of-nine tails, lashed across our backs if we ever knelt to pray

The "Ten", was reminded us that out ten commandments, were ten stupid rules that only Capitalistic fools believed in
That's what they told us

The "Jack" meant that Christ was a knave of uncertain birth

The "Queen", that maybe his mother was a non-virtuous woman

And the "King", stood for our Lord God whom the commies told us didn't not exist
A dream, a fake, a joke
That's what they told us

The Heart stood for Christ's blood, all shed in vain

The Diamond signified the real precious jewel, the communist party

The Club - the weapon of oppression with which they beat us

And the Spade - a tool with which we would dig our own graves

This was the Red Deck of Cards

So you see fellows, the soldier boy said, that's why I hate cards
His buddies picked up the cards tore them into pieces and with shining faces
walked arm-in-arm toward a simple chapel in Korea