Songfacts®:

• This song was originally written by vocalist Yannis Philippakis on a loop pedal and recorded on Foals' first day in the studio for Everything Not Saved. The singer told Consequence of Sound that they wanted to keep the tune simple and urgent. "I felt like when we were playing it in the room, it was harking back to some of our earlier songs in a way, in terms of the drive of it and the rhythm," he said.
  
• Lyrically, this has some similarities to Everything Not Saved's lead single, "Exits," as a frustrated Philippakis spouts relentless images of mazes and entrapment. "It's the logical response to this feeling of being caught in a bind and there's references to mazes and cages," he said. "Again, it's like this labyrinth, this issue of how to find the correct way out."
• It's not clear why this was titled "White Onions" as the phrase does not appear in the lyrics.
• The black-and-white music video shows Foals performing the song in a compact rehearsal room. The jerky camera work reflects the track's vibrancy.