Who composed the “America” melody quoted in the introduction to Metallica’s “Don’t Tread on Me”?

Leonard Bernstein composed the “America” melody quoted in the introduction to Metallica’s “Don’t Tread on Me.” The Metallica song uses an eight-bar phrase from “America,” a well-known number from the musical West Side Story.

Bernstein composed the music for West Side Story, while Stephen Sondheim wrote its lyrics. That distinction matters because the melody heard in Metallica’s introduction comes from Bernstein’s music, not from a newly written Metallica passage.

“Don’t Tread on Me” appeared on Metallica’s 1991 self-titled album and was also issued as a promotional single. Its title refers to the Gadsden flag, whose snake imagery is echoed by the snake on The Black Album’s cover.

The song’s lyrics draw on American historical and political imagery, including Patrick Henry’s famous liberty-or-death phrase. The Bernstein quotation therefore fits the track’s broader use of recognizable American symbols and references.