Mills wrote the song as a plea to girlfriend Ingrid Schorr, asking her to not move to Rockville, Maryland where her parents lived.

[5][6][7] Schorr, who later became a journalist, has expressed amusement at the many factual inaccuracies about her relationship with Mills and the song's origins that have circulated among R.E.M.

[6] Peter Buck has stated that the song was originally performed in a punk/thrash style, and that it was recorded for this single in its now more-familiar country-inspired arrangement as a joke aimed at R.E.M.

Twelve years after originally written, alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs included a cover version as the fourth track on their 1992 single "Candy Everybody Wants".

All songs written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe.