To those who have to work on Christmas

It may seem like the last thing this world needs is another Christmas song, but there’s an unheralded gem that’s been kicking around for a few years without getting the attention it deserves.

There are holiday songs for just about every possible circumstance. Christmas songs about lovers and Christmas songs about the broken-hearted, songs about Jesus and songs about Santa, songs for the kids and songs for the parents of those kids, songs about Christmas in faraway lands and songs about yearning to be home.

So it’s rare to come across a Christmas song that covers new territory, but a number by the band Harvey Danger does just that.

More people have Christmas off from work than any other day of the year. But what about all of the people who DO have to work? This one’s for them: Harvey Danger’s “Sometimes you have to work on Christmas, sometimes.”

I dedicate this song to all of you who’re working on Christmas — at movie theatres and in restaurants, those in the broadcast business, and the cops and firefighters keeping us safe, to cabbies and bus drivers, to the people who work in convenience stores and ER’s. To everyone who’s working, so the rest of us don’t have to: Merry Christmas.