Kansas City Playlist: Lettuce Consider Summer 2026 So Far

With local low turnout elections coming up and the world cup hype machine finally cooling down, we consider cowtown life at the midpoint of Summer 2026. 

The reality is that toilet trouble is the top concern for most locals and Americans who are always more concerned about their next meal than anything related to constantly evolving ideology and all manner of political sanctimony. 

Absurdist headline contemplation for tonight . . .   

Health departments confirm cases of diarrhea-causing parasite spiking in Kansas City metro

And so . . . 

In this scorching summer of discontent amid war in Europe, war in the Middle-East, rising inflation, debate over local violence stats and worsening American political divisions EVEN AMONGST CONSERVATIVES . . . We consider problems closer to home by way of explosive diarrhea threats that offer a disincentive for healthy eating and picking a salad over so much other slop.  

Accordingly here's our www.TonysKansasCity.com playlist inspired by lettuce, greens and other household dangers . . .

Let's start with a pre-Covid anthem that takes us back to the not-so-long ago days before hip-hop became irrelevant . . . "Lettuce" by DDG (feat. Famous Dex) was popular 2017 hip-hop release where "lettuce" is used as street slang for cash or money.

The core hook of the track revolves around the line "pockets be looking like lettuce," playing on the literal green color of both US dollar bills and lettuce to signify heavy stacks of cash.

Next up . . . "Lettuce Like This" by James Thaddeus is a lighthearted, groovy indie-funk track explicitly celebrating organic greens. James Thaddeus isn't just singing about produce as a gimmick—he actually runs an indoor aquaponics grow facility where he cultivates real organic lettuce, hemp, and other plants

A familiar track for cinema nerds . . . The iconic song "Little Green Bag" by the George Baker Selection was originally titled "Little Greenback" as a slang reference to a U.S. dollar bill. Many listeners assumed the song was a subtle ode to a bag of marijuana. In reality, the opening line—"Lookin' back on the track for a little greenback"—was written to rhyme with "greenback" (money). 

Our Saturday night TKC nostalgia connection . . . The song became a massive global re-hit in 1992 after being featured in the famous opening title sequence of Quentin Tarantino's film Reservoir Dogs.

For the bridge . . . Our all time Welsh fave and his inspiration for one of his biggest blockbusters. 

Tom Jones heard the song on a Jerry Lee Lewis album and turned it into a massive 1966 worldwide hit, despite never having recorded a country song before.

Finally, a musical conclusion on the topic of produce mixups . . . "Green Onions" was never intended to be a hit song, and its famous live arrangements were born out of a complete accident.When Booker T. & the M.G.'s originally recorded the track in 1962, they were just house musicians killing time during a Sunday session because the singer they were supposed to back, Billy Lee Riley, failed to show up.

A hopeful note about how far our nation has come despite so much contemporary political provocation: When the song first dominated national charts, standard radio listeners had no idea that Booker T. & the M.G.'s was a racially integrated band (two Black musicians and two white musicians). Because it was a strictly instrumental track, audiences only discovered they were a mixed group when they began playing the song live on television and touring the deeply segregated American South. 

As always, thanks for reading this week and have a safe and fun Sunday.