5 Carly Simon Songs That Prove 1972 Was The Best Year Of Her Career

Carly Simon has been a mainstay of popular music for more than half a century. Her journey has been long and varied, but always central to her art is her often ironic, intelligent brand of songwriting and her willingness to delve into the lived reality of relationships in all their glory and chaos. And though her career has had many high points, many fans consider 1972 to be the year Simon hit her creative peak.

Having emerged from the New York scene in the late 1960s, Simon's self-titled 1971 album put her on the map, earning her a Grammy Award. She also earned a Grammy nomination for her sophomore album, "Anticipation," released later that year. But it was 1972's "No Secrets" that established her as a bona fide superstar, sitting atop the Billboard 200 for five weeks and introducing the world to several of her signature songs. Here, then, is a selection of five tracks from the classic album that prove 1972 was the best year of Carly Simon's career. While she would go on to have many more hits, these are the songs that established her as an idiosyncratic songwriter and a luminous performer and form the foundation of her reputation today.

Where else to start with Carly Simon's 1972 discography than the mysterious "You're So Vain"? The uniquely clever track is seemingly a revenge song about an ex-lover, which nevertheless appears to deny that it is about a particular person. "You probably think this song is about you," goes a famous chorus line, creating one of pop music's most enduring lyrical paradoxes.

Simon was famously tight-lipped concerning who the song was about — if, indeed, we can agree that it is actually about somebody after all. Later, however, she claimed that the tune is about an amalgam of three different men she dated, hinting at the actor Warren Beatty and the novelist Nicholas Delbanco. Meanwhile, the instrumental is accompanied by tasteful strings, adding to the sense of a moral high ground for the narrator, while the repeated phrasing of "don't you?" adds an earworm quality to an otherwise complex song.

The track was the biggest hit of Simon's career. At the start of 1973, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for three weeks. To this day, it's still her best-loved song, influencing generations of women songwriters in the decades to follow.

The opening song of Carly Simon's 1972 album "No Secrets," "The Right Thing to Do," is a pure love ballad. She explains, simply, that loving her partner is the right thing to do, assuring the love interest that she will remain true to them. "I know you've had some bad luck with ladies before / They drove you or you drove them crazy / But more important is I know you're the one and I'm sure / Lovin' you's the right thing to do," Simon sings over expressive piano and a tastefully light rhythm section.

The song is also a marker of how the narrator's own life has changed, with the lyrics reflecting how the newfound structure provided by the relationship has brought comfort despite curtailing the narrator's freedom. "That the river flowed right to my door / Making me just a little too free," the tune goes on. However, it's bittersweet in that it makes clear that the lover isn't always present, describing them as being 10,000 miles away. 

Famously, the song was written only a few months into Simon's relationship with the musician James Taylor, who also provided feedback on the song during the writing process. His presence can also be felt in a musical reference, with Simon singing, "Set me movin' to your sweetest song," a reference to his 1970 track "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)." It peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, cementing Simon as a bankable star and thrusting her relationship with Taylor, with whom she would later often duet, into the spotlight.

Carly Simon can also be a thrillingly confessional writer, and "We Have No Secrets," the track from which the 1972 album takes its name, is one of the most bare and twisty songs in her discography. Again written around the time that she began her relationship with James Taylor, she wrote the lyrics down in her notepad before entering the studio. The song begins with what appears to be a celebration of the couple's shared candor: "We have no secrets / We tell each other everything / About the lovers in the past / And why they didn't last," Simon sings. 

But it becomes clear too that the decision they have made to be open and honest with each other may have revealed more than the narrator bargained for. "Often I wish / That I never knew some of those secrets of yours," goes the refrain. The emotional core of the song was reportedly informed by Simon's experience of being informed by her new partner Taylor that he had previously had addiction issues. The number is ultimately about understanding that in every romantic relationship there comes a time when we have to accept our loved one is flawed, as we all are.

Carly Simon is particularly renowned as a writer whose caustic wit has made her particularly adept at writing about the missteps and moral failings of others, particularly romantic partners. But as she shows on "The Carter Family," she is also able to turn her eye on what one could assume are her own shortcomings. Co-written with Jacob Brackman, the piano-led track goes through three lyrical phases: First describing a childhood friendship, then the narrator's relationship with their grandmother, and finally a recent relationship with a former lover. In each instance, the narrator grows tired of the person and doesn't mourn their loss when they part, either by moving away, death, or the break-up of the relationship.

The sting in the tail each time is that the narrator finds themselves eventually missing the person after they're gone. And each time, they fail to recognize the pattern in their own behavior that caused them to push the person away. The song is exquisitely structured, and though it may not be as radio-friendly as other tracks on the "No Secrets" album, it nevertheless shows the depth and wisdom of Simon's songwriting.

Originally written by James Taylor for his Flying Machine project and recorded as a single in 1966, "Night Owl" is the only cover song on Carly Simon's "No Secrets" album. It's also the rockiest number on the record, anticipating the harder-edged and more sensual work she would create later in the decade. While also showing her as an interpreter of others' songs, a brief look at the credits for "Night Owl" shows the connections she already enjoyed at this stage of her career.

Not only was the song written by her famous partner at the time, but Taylor also features on the track, as do Paul and Linda McCartney, who provide backing vocals along with Doris Troy and Bonnie Bramlett. Meanwhile, former Plastic Ono Band member Bobby Keys provides "Night Owl" with wailing tenor sax, adding to the song's muscularity and swagger as Simon smokily intones how she prefers life in its darker hours. The track lays the groundwork for the more sultry work seen on her 1975 album, "Playing Possum," and confirms Simon as a more subversive act than some might have initially assumed.