A performance that unintentionally insults its audience is often described as "tone deaf," but somehow this song, titled "I Liked You Better Deaf," isn't offensive at all. Instead, the ode, performed for a father who recently acquired hearing aids, hits all the right notes.
A video of the song, which was written and performed by Danny Hamilton as a Christmas gift for his father, overflows with affection and humor. At one point, the videographer can't hold the camera steady after being overcome by laughter. Toward the end of the video, the father remarks, "That is going to be an Internet classic."
"My Dad, who has been hard of hearing for about as long as I can remember, recently invested in hearing aids," Hamilton writes on the video's YouTube page. "So I wrote him a little song for Christmas to celebrate his newfound sense, affectionately entitled, "I Liked You Better Deaf."
Hamilton also transcribed the lyrics in a comment posted on Reddit [all sic]:
There used to be a time, it was rather recently
When I’d play something on the stereo
And mother would say “Danny turn that down”
And you’d say, “it’s already very low”
Seemed that I could always count on you
To come and take my side
When I’d set the volume up at 62
And someone else wanted it at 35
But since you found out that your ears are micable
I have to say it’s made you just a touch less likeable
You never used to know the difference ‘tween the bass and treble clef
And it isn’t hard to tell you that I like you better deaf
It used to be if I’d run out of anything to say
I could just mumble and you’d usually go away
It used to be what I was bringing to the conversation
Was subject to a wider range of your interpretation
But now I see
That I must be
Living in a nightmare, why it’s every son’s worst fear
To have a dad forever clad with supersonic ears
And I don’t mean to tell you that I love you any less
But there’s no doubt about it that I liked you better deaf
If I had once forgot to tell you something, say a chord I hadn’t struck
Like, “The mail’s arrived” “I owe you five” “Run away” or “Duck!”
Once I could have played it off without blood sweat or tears
“I told you that,” I’d tell you, and you’d blame it on your ears
It once was undetectable but now it’s ineffectual
The odds are insurmountable and I am held accountable
And you never would’ve noticed if I swore under my breath
Now I don’t have to shout to say I liked you better deaf
See now I’ve reached a point where it’s hard to make a rhyme
But the song needs another verse to reach a fitting time
And if I had been writing it for old deaf dad
I might have left a phrase or two… unfinished
But only the best for you and your new hearing
You will find that every rhyme is aurally endearing
And I’m afraid that now you’ve left me lyrically bereft
But I only need five words to say I liked you better deaf
Watch "I Liked You Better Deaf," above.