Vanessa Chantal Paradis (1973-) is a French singer, model, and actress. She started off as a professional singer at the age of seven by singing for the first time on a famous French TV program. She later released her hit single ‘Joe le taxi’ at the age of 14. She then released her first album ‘M&J,’ which became very popular in France and also gained some popularity in the UK. Following the success that she achieved with her singing, doors to her successful modeling as well as acting career also opened. She has been the spokesmodel for ‘Chanel’ for many years. She has also starred in numerous French movies like ‘Une chance sur deux,’ ‘Café de Flore,’ etc.

“Joe le taxi” is a song about a taxi driver, Joe, who works in Paris. Joe is a pseudonym of Maria José Leão dos Santos (1955–2019), a Portuguese taxi driver and Parisian nightlife figure who fled the Estado Novo authoritarian regime to France in the 1970s due to her homosexuality.

Joe le taxi
Il va pas partout
Il marche pas au soda

Joe the cab driver
won’t go to some places
won’t go for soft drinks.

Son saxo jaune
Connaît toutes les rues par coeur
Tous les p’tits bars
Tous les coins noirs
Et la Seine
Et ses ponts qui brillent

His yellow saxophone [a metaphor for an American yellow cab. French taxis are ordinary looking cars of no particular color]
knows every street by heart:
every cosy bar
every dark alley
and the Seine river
and its glittering bridges

Dans sa caisse
La musique à Joe
C’est la rumba
Le vieux rock au mambo

In his car
Joe’s music echoes
It’s the rumba,
the good old mambo-flavoured rock.

Joe le taxi
C’est sa vie
Le rhum au mambo
Embouteillage
Il est comme ça
Rhum et mambo
Joe – Joe – Joe

For Joe the cab driver
That’s how life goes:
The mambo-flavoured rhum
A traffic jar/jam [a play on the two possible meanings of “embouteillage” – traffic jam and bottling]
That’s the way he is –
Rhum and mambo.
Joe – Joe – Joe…

Dans sa caisse
La musique à Joe résonne
C’est la rumba
Le vieux rock au mambo bidon
Vas-y Joe
Vas-y Joe
Vas-y fonce
Dans la nuit vers l’Amazone

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 le taxi
Et Xavier Cugat
Joe le taxi
Et Yma Sumac
Joe – Joe – Joe…

Joe the cab driver
And Xavier Cugat [a king of mambo]
Joe the cab driver
And Yma Sumac [a Peruvian diva who sang mambos among other things]
Joe – Joe – Joe…

Joe le taxi
C’est sa vie
Le rhum au mambo
Embouteillage
Joe le taxi
Et les Mariachis
Joe le taxi
Et le cha-cha-chi
Joe le taxi
Et le cha-cha-chi

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-chi
Joe the cab driver
And the cha-cha-chi

Vas-y Joe
Vas-y fonce
Dans la nuit vers l’Amazone

Come on, Joe
Drive on, Joe
Through the night toward the Amazon.