The opening of Metallica's “Don't Tread on Me” interpolates the melody of Leonard Bernstein's song “America.”
“America” was written by Bernstein for the musical West Side Story, whose original Broadway production opened in 1957. The song is one of the musical's best-known numbers and is associated with a debate about life in the United States, immigration, and national identity.
Metallica's track uses the melody in its introduction rather than presenting a full cover of the song. The connection can be easy to miss because the rest of “Don't Tread on Me” is a heavy-metal composition with its own lyrics, riffs, and arrangement.
The title of Metallica's song also echoes the motto printed on the Gadsden flag, whose snake appears on the album cover. That combination of a historical American symbol, Bernstein's musical reference, and the album's imagery gives the track a more layered context than its compact running time might suggest.