"(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea" was released as the debut single from Elvis Costello's second album, This Year's Model, in 1978.
Costello wrote the song in the mid-1970s while working as a computer programmer. He recalled the night he wrote the song:
“Early one morning, I snuck my guitar into the office, as I knew I'd be working late into the night. Once everyone else had gone home and I was alone in the otherwise darkened building, with just the hum and chatter of the computer terminal and the far-off light of a coffee machine next to the stairwell where murderers lurked, I wrote '(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea'”.
Costello stated that the song was partially inspired by trips he had taken with his father to Chelsea in his youth. "I'd gone with my Dad to a few of the more enduring clothing haunts of Chelsea on a rare outing together. ... Now Chelsea seemed even more of an unattainable neighborhood. It stood for both the groovy past and was reported in the papers as the hot-bed of the new punk ferment."
