Son’s ‘I Liked You Better Deaf’ Video Will Make Your Day
When Danny Hamilton wrote a charming, funny song for his dad, called "I Liked You Better Deaf," he didn't expect that hundreds of thousands of people would listen in, too. The 20-year-old singer-songwriter from Toronto surprised his father with a performance of the song on Christmas day and then posted his original tune on YouTube, where it has racked up more than 800,000 views in less than 48 hours.
“The sheer volume of the comments has been shocking,” Danny told Yahoo Shine, noting that his brother, Thompson, posted the video on Reddit. “I was also surprised at the number of people who commented saying they had been through similar situations. I guess I didn’t realize I was doing relatable comedy.”
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The song, said Danny, was inspired by his dad’s new hearing aids. “After he got the hearing aids, he was always telling us to stop shouting at him, and on more than one occasion he asked me to turn down the music,” he said. “That was what really did it, actually. The two of us were in the car, and usually we’d have the music good and loud. He asked, “Is this a little loud?” and turned it down.” According to Danny, he wrote the song in one sitting on Christmas Eve, and his brother was the cameraman for his performance the following day. “If I’d known so many people were going to watch it, I would have practiced a little more,” he said.
Danny has been singing and playing guitar for the past 10 years, but he said this is the first time he’s written and performed a song for a family member. The film student at Humber College in Toronto has also been performing sketch comedy for the past two years and uploading videos on YouTube as Brain Drops Productions. This is his first video that’s gone viral.
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Danny’s dad, Gilbert Hamilton, said he’s not surprised by the video’s success. “I called it right away,” Hamilton, 53, told Yahoo Shine, referring to his unscripted reaction in the video in which he says, “That’s going to be an Internet classic.” As for his new hearing aids, Hamilton said, “It’s only been two weeks, and I’m still getting used to them. The world is a pretty noisy place all of a sudden.”
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