"Precious" was a song composed by Paul Weller and performed by the British band The Jam

The Jam

The Jam were an English punk rock/New Wave/mod revival band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were formed in Woking, Surrey. While they shared the "angry young men" outlook and fast tempos of their punk rock contemporaries, The Jam wore smartly tailored suits rather than ripped...

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It appears on The Jam's 1982 album The Gift

The Gift (The Jam album)

The Gift is the sixth and final studio album by British band The Jam. Released on 12 March 1982, it reached #1 on the British charts. Clocking in at 32:17 minutes, the album received a mixed reception from critics and fans....

and also as a double A-Side single along with "Town Called Malice

Town Called Malice

"Town Called Malice" is a song recorded by The Jam from the album The Gift. It reached number one in the UK singles chart.-Song profile:It was a double A-side single release featuring "Precious" as the flip side...

". It reached number one in the British

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 music charts. It was a departure for the band from their punk and Mod roots, involving a funk

Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

like sound that the band had not previously explored.