Pearl Jam - Yellow Ledbetter (live)

Reading "The Grain of the Voice" by Roland Barthes immediately brought to mind Eddie Vedder's uniquely iconic and at times barely comprehensible vocals. While his lyrics may be obscured by his propensity for ad hoc vocal renditions in his live and recorded music, there is an emotive quality to his voice that most keenly expresses sorrow or pining. Often, songs rely on lyrics to express what the artists want, but Vedder's voice has always had a way of doing that independently. Barthes asked us to question whether uniqueness of voice exists and Vedder's stands out as one that is widely known and admired for its distinctiveness.