Elliott Smith's Grain of Voice

"For his [Panzera's] rare phenomenon to occur, for music to enter language, there must be, of course, a certain physique of the voice (by physique I mean the way in which the voice behaves in the body--or in which the body behaves in the voice)." ("Music, Voice, Language" 283)

While Barthes enjoys Panzera for the full-bodied strength of his voice, something he describes as a "naked voice," one singer who came to mind as having a particularly interesting and effective voice is Elliot Smith. Smith's voice is fragile and soft - so seemingly unstable and raw that the listener can't help but feel Smith's own emotional involvement with his music. Even if his songs were not to have any discernible lyrics, the listener would still feel the both confessional effort and and the helplessness that Smith is feeling and expressing through his music. His voice's "physique" speaks to the listener.