Song pays tribute to Flight 3407

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Two days after Flight 3407 fell out of the sky in Clarence Center, Sheri Whalen sat down in her Maryland home with her guitar and her empty feelings to put her thoughts into song.

"I was just overcome with such sadness," she said. "I was really thinking about the families. I picked up my guitar. I started strumming and writing. Probably 75 or 80 percent of the song was written that night. It was just so intense."

Whalen, a Cheektowaga native, has written "You Are Beauty," an easy-listening ballad designed to help with the healing process for survivors and her hometown community, as the first anniversary of the crash approaches.

The song, which runs 6 minutes and 32 seconds, has been described as both haunting and uplifting.

Listen to Sheri Whalen's "You Are Beauty"

It has a peaceful and ethereal feel, with references to dancing with the angels and the Flight 3407 passengers being both beautiful and free.

Here are the lyrics of the chorus:

I can see you there dancing with the angels to the rhythm of love that beats for all time/

Hear the voices singing Hallelujah/

Your laughter everywhere and your smile in my mind/

You are beauty and you are free. You are beauty and you are free.

Whalen performed the song for the first time in June at a memorial run and fundraiser in Clarence Center for the Flight 3407 families.

"One woman said it brought a tear to her eye but also a smile on her face when she thought of her daughter dancing with the angels," Whalen said. "One set of parents said it was beautiful, haunting and uplifting. That's what I had hoped and prayed for, that it would recognize their sadness but bring joy to them as well."

Whalen, who graduated from Cleveland Hill High School and earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University at Buffalo, kept working on the song, which was recorded, mixed and edited in January.

Among those involved in recording the song were Alan Dusel, from Starfields Productions, on the keyboard and guitar; cellist Dave Meyer; and a choir of gospel singers put together by Pastor Jeremiah Snell.

Besides being a tribute to those aboard Flight 3407, the song represents an attempt to connect with a community of mourners.

Whalen, who lives in Frostburg, Md., and teaches at Frostburg State University, was like the countless current and former Western New Yorkers touched by the sadness and helplessness of the situation.

Doing something constructive with those feelings was her way to connect to the grieving process back home, hundreds of miles away.

"You're just grieving alongside the community, and you're looking for something to do to help, because Buffalo is so important to you," she explained. "I wanted to feel more connected."

The song can be found at www.cdbaby.com, where anyone can type in Sheri Whalen's name and hear a 30-second clip or download the whole song for $8. Anyone who wants a physical copy may contact her at wsa1727@yahoo.com.

Whalen plans to donate proceeds from the song to any memorials set up for the Flight 3407 victims and their families.

"When I was writing it, I wanted to recognize their sadness and acknowledge their pain, but I wanted to go beyond that," she said of the families. "I wanted them to think of their loved ones, how their lives shaped their own lives.

"And I guess I wanted to comfort them. I wanted to offer some sense of healing."

gwarner@buffnews.com

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