Why, Why? Tell him that it's human nature.
Why, Why? And then they give you this thing.

The story:

Not that the actual lyrics do anything but support the melody - near as i can tell the verses are all about wanting to go out into a cool summer night in the city, while the chorus was just words quincy jones wrote to fill in a melody he originally wrote with a bunch of "da da da" in lieu of lyrics.

but i always heard this as:
"Why? Why? And then they give you this thing."

Having never really paid attention to the verses, i always interpolated the full meaning of the song as a sort of bittersweet reflection on the nature of fame and success - the "thing" being a grammy.

Which is a lot of interpretation.