Mitzi’s looking for someone to poker…
March is going to come in like an earworm this year if The Nest can help it. It’s Muzak Monday, and that means it’s time to unveil the next gust of wind that I’ve ranked way up high in my Top 30 Songs We Just Feel Like Playing countdown! I promised you a cheesy slice of 80’s pop, and we’re going to deliver that with a bit of a country twang. It’s time to ante up song #9…
#9. “Queen of Hearts” – Juice Newton
Rock and roll has long been the dominant genre of music in the US, and the clear ruler of our pop charts. Long playing second fiddle has been country music, or country and western as it was long called (Like Nashville is actually in the West). Both genres have their own set of fans, their own record charts, their own awards shows…. really, their own personality that rarely meshes with each other.
And when they do….. hoo boy.
But there have been artists who have been able to bridge the gap between country and rock, and who found a wider audience of fans than Merle Haggard or Loretta Lynn ever did. Many of these acts were prevalent in the 70’s and early 80’s… and one of the more successful was a country darling by the name of Juice Newton. We featured her before here on the Dusty Vinyl Archive, and now it’s time to honor the song that everyone knows her for. Come on, admit it… you can’t possibly dislike this schmaltzy little guilty pleasure!
This video is just as corny and hammed up as her video for “Love’s Been A Little Bit Hard On Me” that I linked to above, but that’s a part of its charm. I’ll always associate this song with the roller skating parties my grade school had each month at the local rink in the mid 80’s. Along with “Break My Stride” and “The Curly Shuffle,” it was one of those records you knew they were going to throw on at some point in the night…
The Queen of Hearts better beware of the King of Douchebags…
Juice’s “Queen of Hearts” was a #2 hit in the US and also charted rather well in a number of other free world nations when it was released in 1981. But it didn’t chart at all in the British Isles. And maybe that was because they had their own hit version of the song two years earlier, recorded by none other than Dave Edmunds of “I Hear You Knockin'” fame, that only charted in the UK and Ireland. Listening to this version after hearing Juice Newton sing it for so many years is a bit….. surreal.
Sorry Dave, but you can’t come in…
We’ll transition from the Queen to the King next Monday…..
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
I like both versions……Honestly I didn’t know that it wasn’t HER song – never heard the Edmunds version. Did it make it to #1 there or in Ireland?
Pam
I first learned of the Dave Edmunds version from someone at my other internet hangout who used to own a record store. I couldn’t believe it…. this is one of those songs that just doesn’t sound right to me done by anyone else other than Juice Newton. Especially a male voice!
I remember it said the Edmunds version was #11 in the UK, and that it also charted in Ireland… and those were the only two countries for his recording. Juice’s version was the one that charted almost everywhere else…
My daughter used to sing this song in grade school and tried with all her might to imitate Juice, so much so she learned to play the guitar and fix her hair the same way.
Ha! Probably a good thing she didn’t try to imitate Slash then….
That came later in the decade. 🙄
I’m a Dave Edmunds fan so I like his version better, but this one’s okay. Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe helped me through those rough disco years. 😁
Neither of those singers is bad at all (though this song will always belong to Juice in my mind). Edmunds had a minor hit in ’83 with a song called “Slipping Away,” which I liked as a kid and have on my long list of future DVA songs…
The Juice Newton one is the only one I’ve heard, and I’ve always liked it. 🙂
This is one of those songs I don’t understand how anyone could dislike!
All the boys loved Juice.
A good, wholesome pop diva. What a concept!
Didn’t she also sing “Angel of the Mornin'” as well? Or am I getting old and senile…
Yeah. And then Shaggy totally ripped it off for a rap song…
Also, fuck rollerskates. 😀
Hey, as long as there was something to grab onto to stop, it was fun!
This was one of my favorite songs when I was 11-years-old! It always reminds me of a road trip we took to Portland one summer in the early 80’s. Queen of Hearts had to play on the radio at least 4-5 times during the 4 hour drive and that wasn’t too much for me. I have this song on my 80’s country playlist and I still enjoy it. It’s just a fun, upbeat song!
YAY for fun earworms! I hope Elvira’s also on that 80’s country playlist….
I’ve never heard before it but it’s quite catchy! I also listened to the original recording you linked to and I think I prefer that one, though.
I might like the other version if I hadn’t heard this one several thousand times first. It just doesn’t sound right by anyone else…