Pat Benatar isn’t singing “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” on tour to protest gun violence

Truthfully, there aren’t many forms of protest that seem effective in demanding change against unchecked gun violence in America. But everybody’s got to do their best with the resources they have, and Pat Benatar is doing her small part to support a cause she believes in.

“We have what we call the ‘holy 14,’ songs that if we don’t play them, you’ll give us [a hard time],” she explains in an interview with USA Today. “And 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. I tell them, if you want to hear the song, go home and listen to it.”

The song is, of course, one of Benatar’s most enduring hits (alongside “Love Is A Battlefield,” another tune with a somewhat violent connotation). The defiant anthem is by no means explicit, with only the barest implication of firearms in the chorus: “Hit me with your best shot/Fire away.” It’s not exactly Foster The People’s “Pumped Up Kicks.”

But the innocence of the track doesn’t matter to Benatar: “[The title] is tongue-in-cheek, but you have to draw the line,” she says. “I can’t say those words out loud with a smile on my face, I just can’t. I’m not going to go on stage and soapbox—I go to my legislators—but that’s my small contribution to protesting. I’m not going to sing it. Tough.”

She’s not exactly radicalizing her fanbase, then–the power of disgruntled Pat Benatar fans probably wasn’t going to break Congressional gridlock, so oh well. On the other hand, the singer feels “Invincible” is as “important” amidst current social upheaval like the overturn of Roe v. Wade as it was when she released it in 1985.

“I’m worried, like all of us, about fundamental autonomy rights,” she says, adding vaguely, “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.”