But it seems that with age Weller has softened a little. Lastly, Weller chose ‘Going My Way’ from his 2015 album Saturn’s Pattern, which, again, sees the musician embrace the less cynical side of his personality, something that once threatened to define his artistic life. His cockney drawl is replaced by a faux American accent, his guitar by a piano, his band by the duel vocals of Carleen Anderson and Jhelisa Anderson. And yet, ‘Wings of Speed’ is exactly that.

None of Weller’s original fans could have imagined that the singer would so readily embrace Elton John-style piano balladry.

Two solo records also made Weller’s list, including ‘Wings of Speed’ from his third solo album Stanley Road. But where those songs are through-and-through new wave chest-beaters, ‘Strange Town’ is something of a chimaera, blending punk riffage with downbeat ambient passages before exploding into a climactic spray of Television-esque guitar lines, over which Weller can be heard wheezing ‘Break it up, break it up.” Underpinned by an offbeat ska groove, this single was released between two of The Jam’s biggest hits, ‘Down in the Tube Station at Midnight’ and ‘When You’re Young’. Speaking to The Guardian about his life and career, Weller named the Jam’s ‘Strange Town,’ as the only track he ever perfected with the group. It says a lot, then, that of the tracks he named as his own favourites, only three of them were “perfect” and only one of them was from his time with The Jam.

‘That’s Entertainment,’ ‘Town Called Malice’, ‘ Going Underground’, ‘Eton Rifles’: I could go on and on and on. As the angsty, socially-conscious frontman of The Jam, he bought working-class narratives to the forefront of British popular music, using his wry wit and powers of consicion to craft some of the most enduring anthems of the new wave era. Paul Weller knows a thing or two about songwriting.

Paul weller songs