"On his own terms" is an interesting phrase. Had he played it on his own terms as he had for most of his career, he would be remembered even less than he is now or possibly not at all. As it was he garnered fame/popularity and I would think considerably more money than had been coming his way before he tiptoed into the limelight.

It was a trade-off he made and perhaps he was happy or unhappy with it...I don't know. His "natural audience" would probably never have encountered him at all. He did reach a few through his notoriety and may never have been heard any other way.

When I said earlier that I admired his courage, it was in making that trade-off and I suppose I should have made that more clear. Its easy to think and say that he "sold out" and gave in to the bigshots but I think it took at least a soupcon of courage to do it and THAT became his own terms......a shot at a long term career of making "his kind" of music in exchange for some easy buffonery at the time.

Spaw