According to the Noël Coward Society, this song originated in 1949, and went into Ace Of Clubs the following year.

Quintessential English gentleman Coward was no stranger to the United States, having set sail for New York aboard the SS Aquatania in May 1921, but his fascination with the country predates this; "The Baseball Rag" which he co-wrote with Doris Joel was published in 1919. This love affair was mutual, his plays were as familiar to Broadway audiences as to those in the West End of London. This song though is a slightly frivolous take on the love habits of Americans; in at least one recording where he plays or is accompanied on the piano, the closing strains of the song include a few bars of "Yankee Doodle"; he used a similar musical joke in "Mad Dogs And Englishmen".

If the song lauds the United States it is strangely uncharitable to Jamaica. Tax exile Coward retired to the island where he died in March 1973; he was buried in the garden of his home, Firefly. >>