The song "20 de Març" by Joan Manuel Serrat tells the story of a missed opportunity to experience the arrival of spring. The lyrics depict the desire to be awake on that specific morning, when a man dressed in a green suit comes through the fields. He is described as singing like a child and carrying birds in his hands, as he scatters them across the sky. The man is surrounded by bees and wears a hat made of roses. The singer expresses his longing to have been awake or to have left the balconies open, enabling him to witness the signs of spring awakening. He imagines roofs and branches filling up with nests, dry dew becoming wet on the river, and the sharp cry of a partridge. He also mentions the rabbit's gaze and the smell of the early morning. The song emphasizes the anticipation and joy of spring, with the imagery of flowers, paper adornments, and a festive atmosphere reminiscent of carnival time. However, on that specific morning, the singer was peacefully asleep because he did not know that spring was being carried in the satchel of the man. The repetition of the phrase "a la bandolera, em duia la primavera" (he carried spring in his satchel) emphasizes the missed opportunity and the possibility that the singer could have experienced the arrival of spring if he had been awake. Overall, "20 de Març" portrays the longing for the beauty and renewal brought by spring through the regret of not seizing the moment to witness its arrival.
