Metallica’s “Don’t Tread on Me” interpolates “America” from West Side Story.
The song’s instrumental introduction uses an eight-bar phrase from “America,” the Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim number from the musical. Metallica incorporated that recognizable melody at the start of the Black Album track before moving into its heavy guitar-driven arrangement.
“Don’t Tread on Me” draws on American Revolutionary imagery, including the motto associated with the Gadsden flag and its rattlesnake symbol. The album cover also features a coiled snake derived from that flag, creating a visual connection between the song and the record’s artwork.
The interpolation is not the same as a cover version of the complete West Side Story song. Metallica uses a brief musical passage as an introduction, while the rest of “Don’t Tread on Me” is an original composition credited to James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. The song was issued as a promotional single rather than a commercial single.