Queen of Hearts (Hank DeVito song)

Queen of Hearts is a country-pop song written by Hank DeVito, the pedal steel guitarist in Emmylou Harris's backing group The Hot Band, and was first recorded by Dave Edmunds on his 1979 album Repeat When Necessary. It was released as a single and reached No. 11 in the UK and No. 12 in Ireland that year, but failed to chart substantially elsewhere in the world. The most successful version of the song was recorded by Juice Newton in 1981 – her version reached #2 in the United States and South Africa. The song also reached the top 10 in Canada, Australia, Denmark, and New Zealand.

"Queen of Hearts"
Single by Juice Newton
from the album Juice
B-side"River of Love"
ReleasedJune 8, 1981
Recorded1981
GenreCountry, country pop, country rock
Length3:26
LabelCapitol
Songwriter(s)Hank DeVito
Producer(s)Richard Landis
Juice Newton singles chronology
"Angel of the Morning"
(1981)		 "Queen of Hearts"
(1981)		 "The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)"
(1982)
Alternative cover
Artwork of the Netherlands 7" release of Queen of Hearts

Juice Newton

Following an appearance on the 1980 Rodney Crowell album But What Will the Neighbors Think, on which composer DeVito played guitar, "Queen of Hearts" had its highest-profile rendition in a version by country-rock singer Juice Newton from the 1981 album Juice. Newton would later recall: "I did ['Queen of Hearts'] live for about a year...Then I brought it to [producer] Richard Landis when we started the Juice album. He wasn’t convinced at that point that it was a breakout song but I told him I think this is a real cool song … so we cut it."[1] Newton's own favorite cut on the Juice album,[2] "Queen of Hearts" was issued as the album's second single and would reach No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in September 1981, behind "Endless Love" by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie. While still at No. 2, "Queen of Hearts" was certified Gold for domestic sales of one million units.

"Queen of Hearts" also gave Newton her second huge international hit, with Top Ten chart positions in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and Switzerland - and more moderate success in Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands. Her recording of the song earned Newton a 1982 Grammy nomination for Best Female Vocalist, Country and Western category, "Queen of Hearts" having been a No. 14 country hit.[3] In June 2014, Newton's version of the song was ranked No. 92 by Rolling Stone on its list of the 100 greatest country songs of all time.[4]

Newton re-recorded "Queen of Hearts" for her 1998 album The Trouble With Angels. In 1997, a live version by Dave Edmunds was released on his compilation album Rockin' .

Juice Newton's first version of the song is featured in Oliver Stone's 1986 film Salvador and the 1997 film Boogie Nights, as well as in the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in which it plays on the fictional radio station K-Rose. It also appears as source music in the first episode of The Americans, a 2013 television series set during the first Reagan administration. The song is also featured in the 1998 King of the Hill episode Hank's Dirty Laundry and the 2017 South Park episode "Splatty Tomato".

Chart performance (Juice Newton version)

Weekly charts
Chart (1981) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[5] 8
Austria [6] 13
Belgium [6] 18
Canadian RPM Top Singles 8
Canadian RPM Country Tracks 6
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks 3
Denmark [6] 6
Germany [6] 39
New Zealand (RIANZ)[6] 7
Netherlands [6] 27
South Africa (Springbok)[7] 2
US Billboard Hot 100[8] 2
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[9] 14
US Billboard Adult Contemporary[8] 2
US Cash Box Top 100[10] 2

Year-end charts
Chart (1981) Rank
Australia [5] 63
Canada RPM Top Singles[11] 52
US Billboard Hot 100 [12] 14
US Cash Box Top 100[13] 7

Covers

In 1982, Austrian artist Nickerbocker (de) released the German rendering "Puppe (du bist a moderne Hex')" ("Doll (You're A Modern Witch)") which reached #3 in Austria.[14](source in German)

References
  1. White, Robert 'Bo' (September 15, 2011). "Juice Newton: The Queen of Hearts Revealed". Newreviewsite.com. Archived from the original on September 20, 2012. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  2. The Baltimore Sun June 24, 1982
  3. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 104.
  4. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/100-greatest-country-songs-of-all-time-20140601/92-juice-newton-queen-of-hearts-1981-0989947
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved April 25, 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. https://charts.nz/showitem.asp?interpret=Juice+Newton&titel=Queen+Of+Hearts&cat=s
  7. "SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  8. Hyatt, Wesley (1999). The Billboard Book of #1 Adult Contemporary Hits (Billboard Publications), page 258.
  9. "Juice Newton Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
  10. "Cash Box Top 100 Singles, September 26, 1981". Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
  11. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.4689&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=mhe12pta2k83e08udtq66ot062
  12. "Top 100 Hits of 1981/Top 100 Songs of 1981". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-10-23.
  13. "Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 26, 1981". Archived from the original on October 22, 2016. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
  14. "Chart-Informationen Puppe (Du bist a moderne Hex')". Chartsurfer.de. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
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