Pat Benatar is putting her most popular song to pasture.
In a new interview with USA Today, the music icon revealed that she won’t be singing her classic “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” while on tour with her husband Neil Giraldo.
She explained that the decision to retire the song for live performances was due to the recent spate of mass shootings in the U.S.
“We’re not doing ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot’ and 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,” she said. “I tell them, if you want to hear the song, go home and listen to it. (The title) is tongue-in-cheek, but you have to draw the line. I can’t say those words out loud with a smile on my face, I just can’t.
Benatar added, “I’m not going to go onstage and soapbox – I go to my legislators – but that’s my small contribution to protesting. I’m not going to sing it. Tough.”
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Talking about how current events and politics, including shootings and Roe v. Wade being overturned, have affected her work, Benatar said, “Well, ‘Invincible’ is really important. I’m worried, like all of us, about fundamental autonomy rights. This is a slippery slope. It’s not about abortion for me. I’m concerned that people are not paying attention to what this actually means.”
“Invincible” was the lead single from the singer’s 1985 album Seven the Hard Way and was used as the theme for the movie “The Legend of Billie Jean”.