Songfacts®:

• This song is from the Broadway play Wicked, which is an adaptation of The Wizard Of Oz. It is sung by Elphaba, who is the Wicked Witch of the West. The song is about Elphaba going mad, because she feels she caused Fiyero's (her lover) death. It is when she has had enough helping people and doing good things to save their lives, because they always turn against her, like when she turned Boq into the Tin woodsman to save his life, as his heart was shrinking. The chanting you hear in the beginning, is the spell she says that turns Fiyero into the Scarecrow we see in The Wizard of Oz.
• The song appears in major productions worldwide, including translated versions such as "Gutes Tun" in the German production Wicked – Die Hexen von Oz.
• Cynthia Erivo performed "No Good Deed" as Elphaba in Wicked: For Good, the 2025 second of the two-part movie adaptation of Wicked.