“Don’t Tread on Me” is the Metallica song on The Black Album that begins with an interpolation of Leonard Bernstein’s “America.”
Bernstein composed “America” for the musical West Side Story. Metallica incorporated its melody into the introduction of “Don’t Tread on Me,” creating a brief musical reference before the song moves into its own heavy-metal arrangement.
The song appears as track six on the standard album. Its title and imagery connect to the Gadsden flag, whose coiled-snake design also appears on the album cover. The phrase “Don’t Tread on Me” is the motto traditionally associated with that flag.
A frequent mix-up is treating “Don’t Tread on Me” as one of the album’s commercial singles. It was sent to rock radio after release but did not receive a commercial single release. The five commercial singles were “Enter Sandman,” “The Unforgiven,” “Nothing Else Matters,” “Wherever I May Roam,” and “Sad but True.”