Joe le taxi [English translation]

Joe the cab driver

won't go to some places

won't go for soft drinks.

His yellow saxophone1

knows every street by heart:

every cosy bar

every dark alley

and the Seine river

and her glittering bridges.

In his car

Joe's music echoes

It's the rumba,

the good old mambo-flavoured rock.

For Joe the cab driver

that's how life goes:

the mambo-flavoured rhum

a traffic jar2.

That's the way he is -

rhum and mambo.

Joe - Joe - Joe...

In his car

Joe's music echoes

It's the rumba,

the phoney mambo-flavoured rock.

Come on, Joe

come on, Joe

drive on, Joe

through the night toward the Amazon.

Joe the cab driver

and Xavier Cugat3

Joe the cab driver

and Yma Sumac4

Joe - Joe - Joe...

For Joe the cab driver

that's how life goes:

the mambo-flavoured rhum

a traffic jar.

Joe the cab driver

and the Mariachis

Joe the cab driver

and the cha-cha-chi5

Joe the cab driver

and the cha-cha-chi.

Come on, Joe

come on, Joe

drive on, Joe

through the night toward the Amazon.

1. a metaphor for an American yellow cab. French taxis are ordinary looking cars of no particular color2. a play on the two possible meanings of "embouteillage" - traffic jam and bottling3. a king of mambo4. a Peruvian diva who sang mambos among other things5. meant to rhyme with "taxi", put "cha-cha-cher" here if you prefer

• Artist:Vanessa Paradis
• Album:M&J (1988)