<P> "The Deck of Cards" is a recitation song that was popularized in the fields of both the 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 . </P> <P> 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" </P>

Who sang the original song deck of cards