“Joe le Taxi” is a 1987 French pop hit by Vanessa Paradis. This lesson includes the full lyrics, English translation, and key vocabulary. You’ll hear each line read aloud to help improve your listening and comprehension skills.
Listen to “Joe le Taxi”
Joe le Taxi: Song Background
The song tells the story of a Paris taxi driver who knows the city intimately, from its hidden streets to its bridges. “Joe” is actually inspired by Maria José Leão dos Santos, a Portuguese taxi driver who fled to Paris in the 1970s due to her homosexuality. The lyrics also nod to Latin culture, mentioning rum, mambo rhythms, and legendary performers like Xavier Cugat and Yma Súmac.
Joe le Taxi Lyrics with English Translation
Joe le taxi, y va pas partout
Y marche pas au soda
Son saxo jaune
Connaît toutes les rues par cœur
Tous les petits bars
Tous les coins noirs
Et la Seine
Et ses ponts qui brillent
Dans sa caisse
La musique à Joe
C’est la rumba
Le vieux rock au mambo
Joe the taxi driver, he doesn’t go everywhere
He doesn’t work with soft drinks
His yellow saxophone
Know all the streets by heart
All the little bars
All the dark places
And the Seine
And its bridges that shine
In his car
Joe’s music
It’s rumba
The old mambo rock
Joe le taxi
C’est sa vie
Le rhum au mambo
Embouteillage
Il est comme ça
Rhum et mambo
Joe, Joe, Joe
Joe the taxi driver
It’s his life
Mambo rum
Traffic jam
That’s the way he is
Rum and mambo
Joe, Joe, Joe
Dans sa caisse (Joe, Joe, Joe)
La musique à Joe résonne (Joe, Joe, Joe)
C’est la rumba (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Le vieux rock au mambo bidon (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Vas-y Joe (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Vas-y Joe (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Vas-y fonce (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Dans la nuit vers l’Amazone (Joe, Joe, Joe)
In his car (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Joe’s music reverberate (Joe, Joe, Joe)
It’s rumba (Joe, Joe, Joe)
The old mambo stomach rock (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Go Joe (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Go Joe (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Go for it Joe (Joe, Joe, Joe)
In the night towards the Amazon (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Joe le taxi
Et Xavier Cugat
Joe le taxi
Et Yma Sumac
Joe, Joe, Joe
Joe the taxi driver
And Xavier Cugat
Joe the taxi driver
And Yma Sumac
Joe, Joe, Joe
Joe le taxi
C’est sa vie
Le rhum au mambo
Embouteillage
Joe le taxi
Et les Mariachis
Joe the taxi driver
That’s life
Rum and mambo
Traffic jam
Joe the taxi driver
And the mariachis
Joe le taxi (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Et le cha-cha-chi (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Joe le taxi (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Et le cha-cha-chi (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Vas-y Joe (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Vas-y fonce (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Dans la nuit vers l’Amazone (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Joe le taxi (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Et le cha-cha-chi (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Joe le taxi (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Joe the taxi driver (Joe, Joe, Joe)
And the cha-cha-chi (Joe, Joe, Joe)
JOe the taxi driver (Joe, Joe, Joe)
And the cha-cha-chi (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Go Joe (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Go for it Joe (Joe, Joe, Joe)
In the night towards the Amazon (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Joe the taxi driver (Joe, Joe, Joe)
And the cha-cha-chi (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Joe the taxi driver (Joe, Joe, Joe)
Line-by-Line Breakdown of the French Lyrics
In the next section, we highlight lyrics that reveal useful French vocabulary and grammar insights.
Joe le taxi, y va pas partout
This line translates to “Joe the taxi driver, he doesn’t go everywhere”. Y means there in French but in this line it is a shortening of il, meaning he.
Ne va pas means doesn’t go. Ne…pas is the most basic French negation rule. Va is the third-person plural form of the verb aller (to go). Partout means everywhere in French.
Y marche pas au soda
This line translates to “He doesn’t work with soft drinks”. A page on WordReference suggests that the line means “he’s a drunkard” as the song makes reference to the alcoholic beverage rum.
Son saxo jaune
This line translates to “His yellow saxophone”. Saxo is short for the masculine noun saxophone. Son means his and is possessive adjective. Jaune means yellow and is a French color.
Connaît toutes les rues par cœur
This line translate to “Know all the streets by heart”. Connaît is the third-person form of connaître, which mean to know or to be familiar with. This page covers savoir vs. connaitre, the two ways of saying to know in French. Cœur means heart in French.
Tous les petits bars, Tous les coins noirs
These lines translate to “All the little bars, All the dark places”. Tous means all in French. Coin has multiple translations including corner and place.
Et la Seine, Et ses ponts qui brillent
These lines translate to “And the Seine, And its bridges that shine”. The Seine is the major river which runs through Paris. Pont means bridge in French. Qui in French means who but in this line it’s a relative pronoun meaning that or which.
Dans sa caisse
This line translates to “In his car”. Caisse means box in French but can also mean car in French slang. Another slang word for car is bagnole.
La musique à Joe
This line translates to “Joe’s music”. In addition to using possessive adjectives, the construction noun + à + person can also be used to express possession.
C’est la rumba, Le vieux rock au mambo
These lines mean “It’s rumba, The old mambo rock”. C’est means “it’s” in French.
Joe le taxi, C’est sa vie
These lines translate to “Joe the taxi driver, It’s his life”. Vie means life in French as in the expression, c’est la vie (that’s life).
Le rhum au mambo, Embouteillage, Il est comme ça
These lines translate to “Mambo rum, Traffic jam, That’s the way he is”. Rum and mambo refer to Joe’s Latin lifestyle. Embouteillage means traffic jam in French. Il est comme ça literally means “he is like that”.
La musique à Joe résonne
This line translates to “Joe’s music reverberate”. Translations for the verb résonner include to reverberate, ring out, resonate and echo.
Le vieux rock au mambo bidon
This line translates to “The old mambo stomach rock”. The adjective vieux means old in French. Bidon is a French slang word for stomach and we’re not sure how this word is used in this line.
Vas-y, Joe, Vas-y fonce
These lines translate to “Go Joe, go for it”. Vas-y means translates to both go ahead or go on. The verb foncer has many translations including to charge at hurry. Y is an indirect object pronoun meaning “there”. We translated it loosely to “go for it” to match the context of the lyrics.
Dans la nuit vers l’Amazone
This line translates to “In the night towards the Amazon”. Nuit means night in French as in bonne nuit (good night). The preposition vers means towards. This line makes reference to Joe’s Latin origin.
Discover more French songs:
- Comme d’habitude (Claude François)
- Pour que tu m’aimes encore (by Celine Dion)
- Je te promets (Johnny Hallyday)
- Je t’aime…moi non plus (Serge Gainsbourg)
- La Décadanse (Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin)
- Ella, elle l’a (France Gall)
- Là-bas (Jean Jacques Goldman & Sirima)
- Tous Les Garçons Et Les Filles (Françoise Hardy)
- Et si tu n’existais pas (Joe Dassin)
- Les Champs-Élysées (Joe Dassin)
- Amsterdam (Jacques Brel)
More French Songs and Vocabulary to Explore
Looking for more ways to learn? Explore our French song lyrics collection for other classics with English translations and detailed explanations. You can also visit our French Word of the Day series to expand your vocabulary one day at a time!
