The days were yet to come when he would deliver his highest works, but in ‘Sol d’estiu’, one of his first songs (from 1971), Ovidi Montllor showed his skills as satirical social columnist on account of a trip by bus and by train to go to the beach, portrayed as golden destiny and luck of mind. After all, “it’s summer, we’re young / the sea pleases us”, says the theme at the beginning, when the protagonist promises them very happily.
It all begins with the air of a movie ballad set in the southern seas: Montllor, singing with sweet romanticism to “l’estiu, el mar, el sol i tu”, accompanied by the ‘Hawai guitar’ (as it appears in the credits) that play nothing less than Quico Pi de la Serra and the ukulele handled by a young virtuoso named Toti Soler. But, as the ride to the coastal destination turns out to be a non-stop of calamity, the languid chant abruptly transforms into a fast-paced clarinet-played foxtrot and fast-paced views of the crowding, sweating, stomping, elbowing and waiting that punish the poor protagonist until he is overcome by circumstances.
the milk ran out
It is not clear if he reaches his goal of bathing, not even if he gets to eat a bite at the beach bar, because when he realizes it, it is time to return “cap to booth / amb el tren de tots&rdquor ;, that rolling place that has procured him “the salvation / to spend a day / sense obligation & rdquor ;. Beyond the sarcastic portrait of the vicissitudes of that frustrated day on the beach, the Montllor with the worst social grapes appears when, after arriving home and verifying that everything continues to go just as badly (“beus un got de llet / la llet s ‘hatallat”), goes to sleep drawing an arid conclusion about the myth of vacation relaxation. “The summer and the sea / will be enjoyed by those who pay you / to work hard & rdquor ;. And that, after all, “prou sort tindràs / si tens l’estimada / al teu matalàs”.
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The year 1971 was the year of ‘Help (ayúdame)’, by Tony Ronald, a Dutchman happily living in Barcelona, and in ‘Sol d’estiu’ a advance intention of making fun of what the songs of the summer already represented then. The song predates Montllor’s first album, ‘Un entre tants’ (1972), and was included in a ‘single’, along with another tender piece, ‘Ell’, where Pi de la Serra played the sitar and Toti Soler, the electric guitar. The beach would be far away, but it’s easy to imagine them having a great time in the rehearsal room. “Neither summer, nor sea, nor sun, and tururú & rdquor ;.