Leonard Bernstein composed the melody interpolated in which Metallica Black Album song?

Leonard Bernstein composed the melody interpolated in Metallica’s “Don’t Tread on Me” from The Black Album.

The song’s introduction uses a melody from “America,” which Bernstein composed for the musical West Side Story. Metallica incorporated the recognizable phrase into the opening before moving into the song’s heavy guitar-driven arrangement.

This is an interpolation rather than a full cover of “America.” The band uses a portion of the melody as part of its own composition, while the rest of “Don’t Tread on Me” is an original Metallica song written by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich.

The reference fits the album’s visual and lyrical themes. The cover’s snake was derived from the Gadsden flag, whose motto is “Don’t Tread on Me,” and that same phrase supplies the song title. The musical quotation is easy to miss because it appears at the beginning rather than forming the main body of the track.