# Help identify song about a girl who played with a deck of cards cause she didn't have dolls.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identify-song-about-a-girl-who-played-with-a-deck-of-cards-cause-she-didnt-have-dolls/817656>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 10, 2018, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identify-song-about-a-girl-who-played-with-a-deck-of-cards-cause-she-didnt-have-dolls/817656 "2018-07-10T15:13:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identify-song-about-a-girl-who-played-with-a-deck-of-cards-cause-she-didnt-have-dolls/817656/1 "2018-07-10T15:13:49Z")

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Looking for a friend who posted this somewhere else:

'Many years ago, I made a CD of playing card-related songs. I found a song I never heard before. It was a ballad about a little girl in the old west who, the story goes, didn’t have any dolls to play with, so she played with a deck of cards and made up stories about the face cards.

She grows up and falls in love with the local bandit/no-good young man named something like the Jack of Spades/Hearts/etc. even though he was the villain in her stories growing up. They ride off together as the posse hunts the Jack and, if I recall correctly, the Jack lets her take a bullet for him as he escapes.

I have searched for all sorts of variants of song titles “Jack of Spades/Hearts/etc.” as well as searching on the story elements, but no avail.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!"

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**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identify-song-about-a-girl-who-played-with-a-deck-of-cards-cause-she-didnt-have-dolls/817656/2 "2018-07-10T15:17:58Z")

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Country ballad? Folk ballad? Jazz ballad? Broadway show tune? What style was the piece?

Male singer or female?

ETA: [Bob Dylan - Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53Or-o4Reag); [covered by Joan Baez](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AQJZys0cvI)?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identify-song-about-a-girl-who-played-with-a-deck-of-cards-cause-she-didnt-have-dolls/817656/3 "2018-07-10T15:27:09Z")

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Great song, but not it

Friend says it’s a mix between country western song and folk

Thinks it’s a male, but not sure at all

Says “like if Peter, Paul, and Mary did the ballad of the one eyed jack”