Elton Hendrix project is made up of : Songwriter, Vocalist, and production by Elton Hendrix, Contracted for hire Main Studio Vocalist: Gaston Loizeau and Main Studio Production by: Aquillonprod
All comments made on all pages here are the sole view and responsibility of Elton Hendrix
Next songs being recorded
1. A TIME TO GROW
A TIME TO GROW (Behind the song)
To grow beneficially, conditions must be optimal. Bad soil, lack of water and nutrients do not create a time to grow. The same is true for human growth, the best of conditions aid growth and the lack of them find a stagnant period of growth. As we go through the trails and negative things often encountered in life we find ourselves spinning in the same circle with seemingly no way out wondering if things will ever get better. But we may not realize that these very things are the instigation of growth. As the song says, ‘Every wound must bleed’ but after comes the healing, healing is growth. The line , ‘Every ship that sails sea finds a storm ,then finds again a time to grow’. After the storm the sailors have grown, they have learned how to deal with a storm, they have learned unity and have been drawn closer by their shared experience, all GROWTH! No one wants a storm, no one wants negative things in their life but they are a fact of life and they can be used to grow! These following words capture the value of growth out of negativity: “Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you meet with various trials, knowing as you do that this tested quality of your faith produces endurance. But let endurance complete its work, so that you may be complete and sound in all respects, not lacking in anything”.—James 1:4. As this text indicates trials and negative things can produce in us qualities of endurance that actually has as its work other qualities to be gained. We may become more understanding , more patient, more resilient etc. All that is growth produced from negative things and propels us into a time to grow. So as the song acknowledges , “Every weeping heart crying on endlessly through the night must find again a time to grow”. The weeping normally doesn’t last forever, we come through it many times a stronger person determined to fight ever harder along with improved qualities we have gained. The influence of these things created the the song, ‘ A time to grow’.
2. ONLY THE DESIRES AND TOYS CHANGE
Only the desires and toys change (Behind the song)
As we become adults we still have desires and toys, but they obviously change. The principles in life remain the same if we are to have any success. For instance we may have a big 4×4 truck instead of a toy truck, a wife may have a beautiful baby instead of her cherished doll. But if the child has been raised well with valuable principles those remain, but the toys and desires have changed. Hopefully they were taught the valuable principals like: unselfishness, kindness, empathy etc. Qualities like those mentioned at Galatians 5:22,23 can then become our motivation, “On the other hand, the fruitage of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Such qualities and principles if taught when young don’t change as desires and toys do. So whatever we build even in the proverbial dark, whatever storm and battle we face and whether young or old as we face the same things will we let our toys (our assets) be used to carry out these activities as well as helping others from the heart. If so then our life will be meaningful and with purpose. And going one step further if we have been taught to appreciate life and the one who gave it then we will give thanks to the Creator as admonished in Ecclesiastes 12:1, “Remember, then, your Grand Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of distress come and the years arrive when you will say: “I have no pleasure in them”. These are the thoughts behind the song, “Only the desires and toys change”
3. THROUGH THE EYES OF A CHILD
Through the eyes of a child (Behind the song)
Blacksburg, Virginia , Newtown, Connecticut ,Uvalde, Texas , Parkland, Florida
Austin, Texas, Greencastle, Pennsylvania , Santa Fe, TexasRed Lake, Minnesota
Roseburg, Oregon ,Isla Vista, California, Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania , Oakland, California
Fullerton, California , Nashville, Tennessee , Stockton, California, DeKalb, Illinois
Rancho Tehama, California , Charleston, West Virginia, Craighead County, Arkansas
Mesa, Arizona, Marysville, Washington, Oxford, Michigan, Winder, Georgia, Las Vegas, Nevada
East Lansing, Michigan , Kent, Ohio,Tucson, Arizona , Plain Dealing, Louisiana , Olean, New York
What do the above locations have in common? They are the sites of school shootings in the United States where children were terrorized and killed. What about what children have had to see in Syria, Gaza, Ukraine, Rwanda, Cambodia and endless more places throughout human history. The innocence spoken about in the song has long passed for a massive amount of children and how SAD their future is , if they even have one at all. That is why one verse says, “ But for every child that has been found another has been drowned”. What is now through the eyes of a child has changed so drastically, sadly and pitifully. Will it ever change and will all this someday be erased from ours and children’s sad memories. Will the clock be turned back so to speak with all having a fresh and pure start? Note these comforting words, “ For look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be called to mind, Nor will they come up into the heart “ -Isaiah 65:17. How will things be then. Isaiah 11:9 says, “They will not cause any harm Or any ruin in all my holy mountain, Because the earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah As the waters cover the sea.” So all those living will have a fresh start with the horrid memories being a thing forgotten, but what about those children who were killed so brutally? Listen and think about the impact of these words, “Regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, who said: ‘I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob’? He is the God, not of the dead, but of the living.” And “Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life,” All those children terrorized and killed will have their life restored and the trauma they suffered eliminated so they will have a fresh start in a life where no harm will exist and they can live in peace along with all humanity. Where will that be? The answer in the following verse requires no interpretation , ““Happy are the mild-tempered, since they will inherit the earth”, also “The righteous will possess the earth, And they will live forever on it.”
Can it be any clearer! These are the thoughts behind the song and as things got worse and worse that negative line “another has been drowned” became more prominent. However the bright promised future above erases all that negativity and through the eyes of a child once again will be enjoyed the innocence of growing up in a peaceful harmless environment.
4. THE FEELING TO BE FREE US ABOUT TO LEAVE ME
THE FEELING TO BE FREE US ABOUT TO LEAVE ME (Behind the song)
The trip from Sacramento, California to San Juan , Puerto Rico was a long one. First by car to Miami , Florida and then Fly to San Jaun. At first there seems be nothing lacking freedom on a trip like this that one can make freely. Many trips are associated with the freedom of the daily grind and responsibilities and the joy of just doing what one wants or not having to do anything. But this trip was different? It involved a new responsibility that would clip the wings of the free spirit I had enjoyed up until now. We would be involved in helping my wife’s aged parents and her father’s business which would change the freedom previously known. It would involve giving constant attention, which we were willing to help, that is why we made such a costly and long trip. But extreme changes are sometimes hard to adjust to and it was during this period the song, “The feeling to be free is about to leave me” was written. In life we have to take on responsibilities that are rightfully ours which involve honoring our parents as the text says in Matthew 19:19, “Honor your father and your mother, and you must love your neighbor as yourself.” They would not be honored if we abandoned them in their old age. It is a job that every son or daughter has to face and it is a pleasure to help ones who cared and nourished one for 20 years or more. It is a time to show appreciation, but nonetheless it is also an adjustment that creates a transition period that the song was addressing in which one is uncertain about future events and the changed effect on ones life.