Frank Ocean analyzes his own song "We All Try" through three verses. In the first verse, he discusses his beliefs in religion, war, women's rights, and marriage. The second verse expresses his continued belief in humanity despite being questioned. Frank believes people are not wicked, just prone to sin, and that everyone tries to be good. The third verse outlines things Frank does not believe in, such as time travel or the American flag on the moon. Throughout, Frank conveys themes of losing and searching for faith or purpose.

1. Lyric Analysis of
‘We All Try’ By Frank Ocean
Lyric
Analysis
By Aminatta Sylva 13H

2. Introduction- 1st Verse 51sc
I believe Jehovah Jirreh
I believe there's heaven ,I believe in war
I believe a woman's temple
Gives her the right to choose ,But baby don't abort
I believe that marriage isn't
Between a man & woman ,But between love and love
And I believe you when you say that
You've lost all faith
But you must believe in (something x3)
You gotta believe in (something x3)
Religious reference is made; ‘Jehovah
Jirreh’ is Hebrew for ‘The Lord will
provide’. It based on the story of
Abraham nearly sacrificing his son,
Isaac to God. Abraham offered a ram to
God instead of his son; Abraham views
the ram as Jehovah’s provision. Frank is
telling us that he believes in second
chances and the Abrahamic traditions.
Heaven and war contradict
each other; one is peaceful
and the other is terrible.
Perhaps, Frank is replacing
Hell with war in this line.
Here Frank believes that
women have the right to
choose to have a child or not,
but pleads the woman to not
abort. The word “temple”
conveys that the woman’s body
is sacred, thus she has the right
to do whatever she wants to it.
One could say that Frank
presents himself as a
humanitarian; he talks about
war, religion and abortion.
Frank is talking about
marriage and he believes in
not just heterosexual marriage
but other kinds too. He also
believes that marriage should
happen purely out of love;
Frank Ocean came out as gay
in 2012.
Perhaps Frank is referring to
his atheist beliefs; loosing
faith could also show lack of
motivation and hope to go
back to being who you
were, when you had faith
and believed in something.
The verse ends with the running theme of
cynicism; it seems like Frank is in doubt about his
faith and society. Optimism is also shown in this
verse as Frank believes that you must and have
to believe in something regardless of what it is.
Ideas Generated from first verse…
•Long Shot of landscapes- Church and skies
•Shot of star in church sitting on a church bench singing; shots of Jesus, rosary beads and candles.
•Montage showing gay and straight couples, graffiti artwork( believing in your work of art), Musicians outside JD
(they believe in their music), Market stalls (they believe in their goods).
•Bright shots to depict the optimistic views of my star; but a dark shot in the church to signify low times that lead
people to lose their faith and belief in themselves.

3. 2nd verse 68sc
I still believe in man
A wise one asked me why
Cause I just don't believe we're wicked
I know that we sin but I do believe we try
We all try ,The girls try ,The boys try ,Women
try, Men try
You and I ,Try try we all try
Frank still believes
in mankind, it is
the only thing that
he has not yet lost
faith in.
Here, Frank is saying that
even a wise man
(probably intellectual) is
asking him why he still
has faith in mankind,
despite the previous and
next verse.
Frank believes that
mankind is not wicked,
but we just find it had to
do things right and be
good. The idea of sin is
presented in this verse;
we try not to sin but do
anyways.
He includes everyone in the
trying of being good, and rejects
the idea of gender identities by
saying that we all try. He believes
that we are all trying to be the
best we can in life, and that
people do not purposefully make
themselves evil or wicked.
Ideas Generated from this verse…
•Shot of the general public walking about with my star standing still; creates the
feeling of isolation and lost.
•Montage showing different kinds of people; kids, old people, women and men,
teenagers etc

4. 3rd verse
I don't believe in time travel
I don't believe our nation's flag is on the
moon
I don't believe our lives are simple
And I don't believe they're short
This is interlude
I don't believe my hands are cleanly
Can't believe that you would
Let me touch your heart
She didn't believe me when I said that
I lost my faith
Said you must believe in something 3x
You gotta believe in something 3x
Here Frank does not believe that
history can be changed; time travel
does not exist.
The moon does not belong
to America, but it belongs
to no one or country. Life is not easy because we have to
try; if we didn’t have to try then we
wouldn’t have to try. He also doesn’t
believe that our lives are short; our
souls last eternally. He also believes
that life is interlude; re period of time
between activities and events
Sins have not been completely
washed off his hands
His hands are dirty and he cannot
believe that she let him touch his
pure heart.
Frank has lost all faith in all worldly
things as previously stated
Frank is still trying to convince himself that he
has to believe in something.
Ideas Generated from this verse…
•Shots of star walking through trees (nature) as though he is looking for
something or someone
•Shots of landscape; binary opposition of nature and city; the star doesn’t
believe in urbanity but believes in nature, perhaps.