 His first release was the 1965 single "I'm So Confused", released by Immediate Records.He went on to work with Peter Eden and Geoff Stephens, and his debut album "Songs For Swinging Survivors", which was a purely folk record.The album featured only Softley and his acoustic guitar and includes the songs "The War Drags On" (covered by Donovan on his "Universal Soldier" EP), and Softley's own interpretations of Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit", and Woody Guthrie's "The Plains of the Buffalo".