"There, in the chords and melodies, is everything I want to say. The words just jolly it along. It's always been my way of expressing what for me is inexpressible by any other means"

David Bowie, a legendary musician and artist, reflects here on the profound power that music, specifically the combination of chords and melodies, holds as a form of personal expression. His sentiment suggests that instrumental music can communicate complex feelings and ideas that spoken or written language often cannot capture. The emotional weight, the subtlety, and the depth of meaning conveyed through sounds, harmonies, and rhythms carry an intensity greater than that which lyrics alone can provide. For Bowie, music is not just a backdrop for words; it is the primary medium through which his innermost thoughts and emotions are articulated.

He acknowledges that lyrics, or "words", serve to advance or perhaps decorate the song, likening them to something that "jollies it along". This phrase implies that, while words are important and may provide narrative or context, their role is almost secondary to the raw, visceral communication achieved by melody and harmony. Bowie’s use of "everything I want to say" underscores the completeness with which music allows him to communicate, reaching into the realms of the unsayable and ineffable. When emotions, experiences, or ideas become too elusive or nuanced for language, music steps in to fill the gap.

For someone like Bowie, whose work is known for its innovation and emotional resonance, the act of composing music becomes an intimate, almost sacred process. The expressiveness of music is infinite; a single chord change or melodic line can evoke nostalgia, longing, excitement, or despair. His assertion that this has always been "my way" points to a lifelong reliance on music as a true language of the soul, a space where vulnerability and complexity can exist without censorship or explanation. The words, then, merely accompany the journey, while the real heart of his communication is always embedded in the music itself.