"The Right Thing to Do" is a song written and performed by Carly Simon that first appeared on her 1972 album No Secrets. The song was recorded at Trident Studios in London's Soho. It was released as the second single to the album, following "You're So Vain" and reached No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 4 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. It also reached No. 20 on the Canada Top Singles chart and No. 9 on the Canadian Adult Contemporary chart. It reached No. 17 in the UK. Lyrics and music "The Right Thing to Do" is a love song directed to Simon's then husband James Taylor. Simon has stated that "it was actually one of my absolutely undisputed songs about James, written three months into our relationship." Author Sheila Weller notes that the song is both romantic and realistic about the relationship. She shows the romanticism by disregarding her lover's problems but realistic in recognizing "her fading value in the sex-and-love marketplace." To Weller, the latter is displayed in the lines: And it used to be for a while The river flowed right to my door Making me just a little too free But now the river doesn't seem to stop here anymore Simon acknowledged that Taylor helped "with a lot of the changes" after she had written the original lyrics and music. Taylor claimed that he told Simon that he liked everything except the original third verse; Simon replaced the verse and Taylor approved. Simon took the line "loving you is the right thing to do", which gave the song its title, from the movie The Last Picture Show. Allmusic critic Joe Viglione and Billboard both praised the song's production by producer Richard Perry. Viglione also comments on Simon's "heartfelt" vocal performance. Simon accompanies herself on piano, and other instrumentation includes bass guitar, drums, congas, horns, and strings. Vicki Brown and Liza Strike also provide backing vocals. Billboard considered the "light horn backing" to be particularly effective in making the song catchy. Reception Weller described the melody as "fetching." Carly Simon biographer Stephen Davis remarks on the song’s "sweet and lulling acoustics." Viglione calls it a "great pop record" and "two minutes and fifty-seven seconds of sublime Adult Contemporary radio music", adding "There's enough tension and drama, especially in the middle eight, to lift this title above most of the introspection on the album, reaching