Pat Benatar has said she will no longer perform her 1980 hit “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” out of respect for victims of U.S. mass shootings and their families.
“Fans are having a heart attack and I’m like, I’m sorry, in deference to the victims of the families of these mass shootings, I’m not singing it,” Benatar told USA Today. “I tell them, if you want to hear the song, go home and listen to it.”
Written by Canadian musician Eddie Schwartz, the song includes lyrics like: “Why don't you hit me with your best shot / Hit me with your best shot / Fire away.”
Benatar, 69, explained she “can’t say those words out loud with a smile on my face, I just can’t.”
Schwartz has said the title came to him after he attended a therapy session in Toronto at which he punched pillows to relieve hostility.
Benatar acknowledged the song title is “tongue-in-cheek” but said she has to draw the line.
“I’m not going to go on stage and soap box – I go to my legislators – but that’s my small contribution to protesting,” she said. “I’m not going to sing it. Tough.”