White Flag

White Flag is the third track on Gorillaz' 2010 album Plastic Beach, featuring rappers Bashy and Kano, and is played by The Syrian National Orchestra for Arabic Music, who were also featured on the cut track Whirlwind and the unreleased song Crashing Down.

Band member Murdoc Niccals stated the following about "White Flag" in a track-by-track commentary:

"This one features the (Syrian) National Orchestra For Arabic Music. 'Plastic Beach' was intended to be a worldwide collage. Via the guests I brought in and used, I could take little snapshots of the world.

'''White Flag' was recorded in Beirut, around the end of March 2009. Over there, the Israelis like to fly their jets really low over the city once a month. It’s called “sabre-rattling”. If they fly low and fast enough, it creates a sonic boom effect, taking out all the windows in the area.''

''This faintly surreal experience in Beirut and Syria got rolled into various themes on the album. What I wanted to do was then add a British counterpart. And who would fit the bill better than the British grime artists Bashy and Kano? What they bring to this is great.''"

Trivia

 * White Flag's working title on Plastic Beach was "The House Of The Pinky Stink Fish" until Murdoc changed it to be taken more seriously.
 * The lyric lines "Honey I shrunk the kids yet" and "Just found it like Nemo on the de-low" are references to the 1989 movie "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" and the 2003 animated movie "Finding Nemo" respectively.
 * An extended version of the song was played live on 24th of November 2010 on the french TV show "La Musicale", also featuring Bashy, Kano and the Syrian National Orchestra for Arabic Music. It can be watched here.
 * This song was also released on the 17th of Aprilm, 2010 as a single for National Record Store Day with it including the song itself plus Pirate's Progress.