Terry Knight: Songwriter/Beatle Bones 'n' Smokin' Stones

Anybody who delves deeply into the Grand Funk Railroad catalog will eventually end up at the first two Terry Knight and the Pack lps, or the great early 1970's cash-in lp, "Mark, Don and Terry, 1966-67." As far as I can discern, the two Terry Knight lps were never released in New Zealand. Yet, as a SONGWRITER, Terry Knight had a number one hit in New Zealand in 1969 with Shane's cover of his great Paul-is-Dead Beatles oddity "Saint Paul," which is played on oldies radio here as much as say Tommy James' "Crystal Blue Persuasion" from the same year. Shane was the singer with the great Pleazers who had a NZ nugget with a tribute to the late, great Ray Columbus (seen below). Say what you will, Knight had a knack for writing great songs referencing both the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. Yet what the "Mark, Don and Terry" lp is missing is perhaps one of Knight's finest moments, the Pack's awesome Stones inspired debut 45 "How Much More (Have I Got to Give)" from 1965 which abounds with Stones references (and the plight of long-haired men in Flint, Michigan). I can picture Greg Prevost, Peter Zaremba or Mike Stax just tearing up a cover of this Terry Knight nugget. And I am not sure how Knight's great Dylan swipe missed the compilers of one of my favourite boots of the last 15 years, The Dylan Kynd.