“Hit Me with Your Best Shot” by Pat Benatar

Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” is romantic in nature, though lyrically being based on a motif that can perhaps be most truthfully defined as centered on (gun) violence. That is made most evident by the closing line of the chorus, in which the vocalist instructs the addressee to “fire way”. But to reiterate that is actually a metaphor, as is the title, in which instructing someone to “hit me with your best shot”, as the vocalist is doing to the addressee, is another way of encouraging said individual to give it his all.

That particular aspect of the song is easy to understand. What may not be as easy to ascertain is what exactly Pat means, all lyrics considered, by that instruction. 

As the story goes, how the title actually came to this track’s writer is via a type of therapy, presumably anger management, the writer was involved in. Participants of the said therapy were tasked, amongst other things, to punch pillows. So it isn’t like this piece wasn’t inspired by romance per se. 

Also to note, since said songwriter is a man, the lyrics were originally composed from a male’s perspective. So those inconsistencies, if you will, may explain why certain issues, in a manner of speaking, are present in this narrative.

The Addressee of “Hit Me with Your Best Shot”

What is made clearer is that this is a song in which the addressee is a known playa. So theoretically, what it seems we’re dealing with here, as far as the vocalist goes, is a lady who has developed feelings for him nonetheless.

However, that’s not to imply that she’s looking forward to being one of his victims. Instead, it appears that Pat prides herself along the lines of being a playa more so than the addressee. Or once again going back to the titular metaphor, she presents herself as a woman who is up to any romantic challenge he may throw her way. 

So we can say that the vocalist does not perceive herself as an easy conquest, as in she feels she’s more than a romantic match for the addressee. Therefore conclusively she is looking forward to him, as we would say in more contemporary times, putting it on her.

Pat Benatar

Pat Benatar is one of the most-successful female singers of the 1980s. In fact her career has been so outstanding that she’s set to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame later in 2022, a few months after this writing. 

When was “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” released?

“Hit Me with Your Best Shot” is a single derived from “Crimes of Passion” (1980), which is Benatar’s most-successful overall album.

This track was released, through Chrysalis Records, on 15 September 1980. It fared well in that it made it onto the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100. This is in addition to being certified platinum by the RIAA. 

But this is one of those songs whose chart/commercial showing doesn’t do it full justice, as this song can arguably be deemed one of the most recognizable tunes from the 1980s.

Credits

This song was written by one Eddie Schwartz, a highly-regarded musician from Canada, who described the whole process as being inspired by a need to instantly come up with a track and therefore also being imbued with plenty of improvisation.

“Hit Me with Your Best Shot” was produced by Keith Olsen. And also present on the track, in a keyboarding capacity, is regular Pat Benatar collaborator Neil Giraldo, whom the songstress went on to marry in 1982.

Notable Usage of “Hit Me with Your Best Shot”

This song has appeared in quite a few movies, including Shrek Forever After (2010) but has been more notably utilized in TVS shows, such as the following:

• Miami Vice (1985, 1988)
• Doogie Howser, M.D. (1990)
• Community (2010)
• Glee (2011)

And to note, the rendition by the Glee cast managed to appear on the Billboard Hot 100 itself.

Something Noteworthy!

Mass shootings are real, folks, especially in the United States, which also happens to be Pat Benatar’s homeland. In fact it’s so much so that, as of mid-2022 and against the wishes of her fandom, Benatar has quit performing “Hit Me with Your Best Shot”, which is by the way her signature song, even though in context the titular metaphor has nothing to do with shooting a firearm.