Book excerpt: "Scratching around at home on an acoustic guitar, singing into my phone with these funny little rough ideas. All of a sudden, it turns into something beautiful or complete... it's a fascinating thing. It's magic." -- Paul Weller In Magic: A Journal of Song, Paul Weller gives the first and definitive account of his illustrious songwriting career, recounting a lifetime of lyrics in Weller's most candid and intimate commentary to date. As one of the most innovative and remarkable songwriters of the last fifty years, Paul Weller has proved to be the ultimate shapeshifter, moving from the Jam's punk sensibilities to the genre-defying Style Council, and later through a remarkable 30-year solo career. Alongside Lennon and McCartney, Weller is one of few artists that has attained a UK number one album over five consecutive decades, and he's also received career defining awards from the BRITs (Lifetime Achievement Award), NME Awards (Godlike Genius Award) and a GQ Award for Songwriter of the Year. The book chronicles a lifetime worth of lyrics with impressive clarity. We follow Weller through his upbringing on Stanley Road and founding the Jam in his teenage years, creating the Style Council alongside keyboardist Mick Talbot, and later into his 16-album solo career, including stories behind iconic albums such as Stanley Road and Wild Wood, as well as his latest album, Fat Pop Vol. 1. Magic presents 130 of Weller's finest lyrics to date, accompanied by an illuminating commentary which sees him give unprecedented insight into his life and lyrics, as told to GQ editor and author, Dylan Jones OBE, in their first collaboration. "Paul Weller has proved that he is not only beyond reproach, in some senses he is quite possibly without equal." -- Dylan Jones "The thing I have discovered is that music in its truest sense is beyond any trend or movement or category." -- Paul Weller