A month or so back, while driving into Toronto I thought, what a stupid species I belong to. Any intelligent animal, like a skunk or raccoon, that found itself on highway 400 near the junction with the 401 in rush hour, would have the intelligence to stand in front of a vehicle and get it over with. Instead we edge through traffic shifting gears and straining our ears to hear traffic reports. Commuting, rather than following the advice in the book Your Money or Your Life, is a modern human tragedy that we share with people in cities all over the world. What a way to spend our lives.

I don't know about saddest song, but a sad song that deals with the stress and pain of commuting is Robert Ateyo's 'Angels in the Backseat.' Robert Ateyo said that he wrote it after driving early in the morning to a gig in a pub, playing and drinking, then driving home late at night. At one point he started wondering how he managed to not kill himself driving. He decided that he must have angels in the backseat looking after him....
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Angels in the Backseat
By Robert Ateyo

My eyes are getting heavy
I've been on the road since seven
Crying tears of lead
And I'm on my way to heaven
I've got a couple of angels in the backseat
They're showing me the light and the way

I can't wait to get to heaven
It's a place I never been to
Spent some time in hell
It's something I am no longer into
There's some dead people I'd like to talk to
I've been missing them way too long

Well I'm always in a hurry
Just to get to where I'm going
The big hand moves a little faster
And the little hand moves slower
And if I don't lose this bottle
This might just be last call

The clock upon the wall
It has a funny way of showing
When your time is all used up
And you know you must be going
All the money that you saved up
Can't buy you a nickel of time
All the money in the world
Can't buy you any more time

My eyes are getting heavy
I've been on the road since seven
Crying tears of lead
And I'm on my way to heaven
I've got a couple of angels in the backseat
They're showing me the light and the way