Joe le taxi [English translation]

Joe the taxi*

Doesn't go everywhere

Doesn't go by the soda (popstand, I believe)

His yellow sax

Knows all the roads by heart

All the little bars

All the black corners

And the Seine

And its bridges that shimmer

In his box (caisse)

The music for Joe

Is the rhumba

From old rock to mambo

Joe the taxi

That's his life

From rum to mambo

Traffic jam**

He's like that

Rum and mambo

Joe, Joe, Joe...

In his box [cha-cha-cha]

The music of Joe sounds [cha-cha-cha]

It's the rhumba [cha-cha-cha]

From old rock to fake mambo [cha-cha-cha]

Come on, Joe [cha-cha-cha]

Come on, Joe [cha-cha-cha]

Come on, darkness***

In the night, toward the Amazon [cha-cha-cha]

Joe the taxi

And Xavier Cugat

Joe the taxi

And Yma Sumac****

Joe, Joe, Joe...

Joe the taxi

That's his life

From rum to mambo

Traffic jam

Joe the taxi

And the mariachis

Joe the taxi [cha-cha-cha]

And the cha-cha-chi [cha-cha-cha]

Joe the taxi [cha-cha-cha]

And the cha-cha-chi [cha-cha-cha]

Come on, Joe [cha-cha-cha]

Come on, darkness [cha-cha-cha]

In the night, toward the Amazon [cha-cha-cha]

Joe the taxi [cha-cha-cha]

And the cha-cha-chi [cha-cha-cha]

Joe the taxi...

_____________________________

*"Taxi" here most likely means a cab driver.

**literally means "bottling"; here, it is a play on words because of the mentioning of rum.

***"Fonce" means "dark", but "fonceur" means "go-getter", or a "go-ahead type". "Fonce might have a double-entendre where it stands for both of these.

****Xavier Cugat and Yma Sumac are key figures in the spread of Latin American music.