Rock or pop song, I think it’s a male singer, top 40 sound but maybe a slightly grungy vocal. fairly recent, maybe last 15 years. Chorus something like but not exactly:
How many times can I say that I’m sorry?
How many ways can I tell you I love you?
How many roads must I walk til I find you?
Any ideas? My google fu is failing me and the website you can hum into seems to have turned Japanese.
Could it be Phil Collins?
Reminds me vaguely of Eric Clapton’s “Forever Man,” but now that I think about it, what you’ve quoted sounds like the first verse, not the chorus.
No this song has the words as the chorus, not the lead up. And Phil is way too light rock, and the song too old. But thanks 
Not that one either.
Here’s my best attempt to describe a line from the chorus musically:
How ma ny times-X must i say-x that i’m-x sor-x ry-x
(spaces seperate beats, -X meats hold for two beats)
F F F G- G G A- A A G- F-
(dash means hold for two beats)
Before I go away to try Google-fu, I’m guessing it’s a Joe Cocker cover of an Elton John song.
[runs off to check]
Well, crap. Joe Cocker did cover Elton John’s “Sorry Seems To Be the Hardest Word”, but that apparently isn’t the song the OP was asking about.
Elton John’s song goes:
What have I got to do to make you love me?
What have I got to do to make you care?
What do I do when lightning strikes me
And I wake to find that you’re not there?
What have I got to do to make you want me,
What have I got to do to be heard?
What do I say when it’s all over?
And sorry seems to be the hardest word…
Nope that’s not it either. More rock/poppy with a light full electric guitar sound. I’m starting to think I don’t know the lyrics at all lol. I’m pretty sure the first three syllables start a question, but it could be questions other than the ones I gave as examples. Maybe “what if I…” or “what would you do if i…” or “how many nights…” or it could be something else like “too many nights…”. Only thing I’m really sure about is the rhythm and basic melody which I tried to describe above, and the style/sound which i can hear in my head but don’t have the musical vocabulary to describe properly.
Never mind I figured it out. Although the melody was clear, I got the lyrics totally wrong except for the “how many times can I” part:
How many times can I break till I shatter?
Over the line can’t define what I’m after
I always turn the car around
Give me a break let me make my own pattern
All that it takes is some time but I’m shattered
I always turn the car around