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