If By Magic

The Words and Lore of The Girobabies

By: Mark McGhee

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Paperback | 2 December 2025

At a Glance

Paperback
130 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
19.8 x 12.9 x 0.71

Paperback

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If By Magic collects the lyrics and 'baffling ned punk' lore of cult Glasgow band The Girobabies from 2008-2025.
Frontman Mark McGhee takes us on a journey from the banks crashing right up to the spiralling revelations of our times. Here lies the lyrical lovechild of an 8am job centre queue and a Gallowgate jukebox in the 80s. The reader relives the gigs, the friendships and the mystical moments that made things happen over an 18-year evolution from Ayrshire to international notoriety.

A beautiful, chaotic and cathartic collage, The Girobabies are a constant reminder that revolution happens in a gaff at 5am, fuelled by Bucky, good intentions and a pair of banging speakers. Moving through four eras-Social Not Working, Bus Stop Apocalypse, Who Took Utopia? and Dreams Are Mental-these lyrics make you feel everything you've been trying to ignore since Thatcher: McGhee's words detonate truth in working-class Scots.

Part songbook, part memoir, this book is an ode to the strange alchemy that turns life into lyrics.

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