"Mr. Soft" is a song by the British rock band Cockney Rebel, fronted by Steve Harley, which was released in 1974 as the second single from their second studio album The Psychomodo.

The title track, "Psychomodo", was issued as the album's lead single in May, but it was quickly withdrawn as "Judy Teen" continued to climb the charts.

[4] The decision to release "Mr. Soft" as the band's next single was made in June, with Harley considering the song to be "a moderate progression from Judy Teen".

In 2012, Harley recalled, "The Mike Sammes Singers, practically resident on the BBC Light Programme, came in to sing backing vocals, all those "boom-boom-boom, boom"s and bassy "mmmmms"s on 'Mr Soft'.

"[8] It was arranger Andrew Powell who suggested the Mike Sammes Singers after Harley expressed his ideas for the song's backing vocals.

[citation needed] "Mr Soft" was released by EMI Records on 7-inch vinyl in the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia and Japan.

[25] In the Netherlands, the new band's permanent line-up of Harley, Cregan, keyboardist Duncan Mackay, Ford and Elliott performed the song on AVRO TV show TopPop.

[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38] On its release, Deborah Thomas of Daily Mirror commented, "Steve Harley and his band have a rough brush with a violin and a touch of the cossacks as they wend their way through a creepy camper.

[42] Pete Paisley of Record Mirror noted the "nigglingly nasty camp fairground feel that pretty well sums up all the lurid over-theatricality of much early Seventies pop".

[44] Mervin Straughan of the Sunderland Echo called it a "70s classic [which] is far superior to much of the material around today", with Harley "bounc[ing] along like an Indian Rubber Man with his elasticated, almost surreal vocals".

[45] Carol Clerk of Classic Rock, in a 2006 review of The Cockney Rebel – A Steve Harley Anthology, described the song as "exquisitely crafted and arranged, and determinedly eccentric to boot".

[46] Chris Roberts of Uncut wrote, "Harley's band slid perfectly into the post-Ziggy/Roxy slipstream, all mannered English vocals, florid lyrics and sexual-theatrical rock.

Speaking to the Birmingham Post in 2013, Harley said, "I kind of secretly hear and imagine the possibility that I might be an influence, and my wife will see it, but, I don't want to go there and find out that they've never heard of me!

"[48] In their 1994 hit "Shakermaker", the English rock band Oasis referenced "Mr. Soft" with the line "I've been driving in my car with my friend Mr.