[2] The holiday served as a songwriting session for Harrison's first album on his Dark Horse record label, Thirty Three & ⅓, and also as an escape from the problems he faced with the copyright infringement suit relating to his 1970 hit song "My Sweet Lord".

[5] As with the early drafts of "It's What You Value", which was also inspired by his friendship with Keltner,[6][7] the handwritten lyrics are reproduced in I, Me, Mine on stationery from the Caneel Bay Plantation in Virgin Islands National Park.

[12] Author Ian Inglis writes that whereas the term "soft touch" usually refers to someone who is easy to convince, in Harrison's song, it describes "a caring and gentle nature", with the lyrics evoking "physical and emotional tenderness".

[14] Inglis describes the narrative as a mix of "warm contentment", through phrases such as "eyes that shine", "treetops whisper" and "a new moon", and the idyllic surroundings, evoked through the references to ocean waves and sailing.

[15][16] In the intervening years, he had increasingly sought out activities outside music,[17][18] which included travel with Arias,[19] compiling material for his autobiography,[20] and participating in Idle's comedy projects.

[21][nb 2] The sessions for the album took place at Harrison's studio, FPSHOT, in Oxfordshire between April and October 1978,[25][26] and coincided with a period of tranquility in his life[15][27] as he and Arias awaited the birth of their first child.

[53] Leng views "Soft Touch" as another "instalment of South Seas bliss" from Harrison and indicative of the artist's avoidance of all contemporary musical trends on his self-titled 1979 album.

Leng adds that the song would have held little appeal to rock critics at the time but instead satisfied the criteria outlined by Harrison's friends among the Formula 1 community, for "nice, relaxing music".