The song, first performed in 1943, is actually a vicious satirical attack on the German people and it seems incredible today that it was banned by the BBC for being too pro-German.
No doubt a nation at war was too exhausted to deal with Mr Coward's sophisticated satire, and mention of bringing out a German's "latent sense of fun" went down like a V2 rocket when the engine cut off.
In today's politically correct environment the lyrics are horrifying, to the extent that I couldn't possibly quote an entire verse.
However, I suggest that the legacy of being "beastly to the Germans" lingers on and if we scratch the surface of attitudes towards Germany over the economic plight of Cyprus and, for that matter, Greece, we expose a "latent sense" of something a lot less pleasant than fun.
While Germany is widely regarded as holding Europe's purse strings, does that make it responsible for bailing out Cyprus and a load of non-EU citizens who have been hit for using the country as an offshore tax haven?
The answer is an emphatic NO. Especially as Cyprus turned up in less than a week as a challenger in the offshore tax haven market, as far as reputation is concerned, but still managed to attract droves of dubious investors, most notably from Russia.
Even Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev sees events in Cyprus as possibly encouraging Russian business to bring money home from offshore to Russian jurisdiction and banks that are apparently "very stable".
In a wry quip about the haircut imposed on those who have stashed away ill-gotten gains in Cyprus, Mr Medvedev added: “The stealing of the stolen is continuing there, I think.”
He was echoing Lenin on the confiscation of capitalists’ property as illustrated by the tale of an old Bolshevik who when challenged by a Cossack about Bolsheviks and theft answered "Yes, we steal what has already been stolen".
Cypriot banks also invested heavily in Greek debt. Whether through arrogance - that is, thinking they knew more about the quality of Greek debt than the Greeks - or whether in an attempt to support the motherland, I have no idea and most likely neither has anyone in Cyprus.
But still Germany is called to account for refusing to stand between Cyprus and disaster when, in reality, the Eurozone needs to sort out certain sycophantic member states, riddled with corruption to the extent that they have lied about economic growth and expect to get away with it.
While I feel for individual citizens in both Greece and Cyprus, the levels of stupidity, theft and corruption practiced by people in high places beggars belief.
Both Germany and France CAN be blamed for the way the Eurozone was set up but neither are responsible for the Greek or Cypriot mess; these were home-grown through a series of malpractices and fraud.
The same is true of Ireland and the moaning about the cost of servicing the bail out. High interest charges reflect the depth of the crisis created by corruption and theft in the Republic. But for some, it's easier to dig back into the past than face the truth, and blame those helping out, in particular when it comes to the contribution made by the UK.
Some areas of the media also need to reflect on the facts behind the crises faced by Cyprus and Greece. I recently witnessed a berating of a German minister on the usually commendable Channel 4 News, in which any attempt to explain Germany's position was wiped out by a vitriolic attack on behalf of Cypriots and Greeks by Krishnan Guru-Murthy.
Germany's Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, fared better with Jon Snow when interviewed last month about the fallout across the EU from Greece's economic woes.
When questioned about the dangers of the rise of the right in Greece, Herr Westerwelle was at least given the opportunity to explain that in England and further afield the word "austerity" equates to "brutal cuts" whereas in German it equates to "fiscal discipline"!
I rest my case: "Don't let's be beastly to the Germans .... don't let's be horrid to the Hun".
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