Hmmm. I wonder what else we can dig up. There's an entry in the Traditional Ballad Index, but it refers only to the Digital Tradition and to the Folksinger's Wordbook.
-Joe Offer-Queen of Hearts
DESCRIPTION: "To the Queen of Hearts goes the Ace of sorrow... Young men are plenty but sweethearts few; If my love leaves me, what shall I do?" The singer talks of her wealth and family, "But I'll leave them all to go with you."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: love courting family travel
FOUND IN: Britain
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 153, "Queen of Hearts" (1 text)
DT, QUNHEART*
Roud #3195
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I Know My Love"
File: FSWB153Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index InstructionsThe Ballad Index Copyright 2003 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.
The lyrics in the Digital Tradition are exactly what's found in The Joan Baez Songbook. Here are the background notes from that songbook:The English collector Sabine Baring-Gould found this song in tradition in 1894 and believed it to date back to the period of the Stuart Restoration. Love metaphors utilizing playing card motifs occur in the folksongs of many lands, but rarely as effectively as in this song.
The Folksinger's Wordbook has essentially the same lyrics Mrrzy posted, give or take a tense or two.