The intro to “Don't Tread on Me” on Metallica's The Black Album interpolates “America.”
“America” is the melody composed by Leonard Bernstein for the musical West Side Story. Metallica incorporated the recognizable passage into the song's opening, creating a brief connection between the heavy-metal track and a major work of American musical theatre.
The song's title and lyrical imagery also connect to American patriotic symbolism. The phrase “Don't Tread on Me” appears on the Gadsden flag, whose coiled-snake design is echoed in The Black Album's artwork.
This detail is easy to miss because the interpolation appears at the beginning rather than as a prominent quotation throughout the song. It is also distinct from a cover version: Metallica recorded an original song whose introduction references Bernstein's melody.