Practical Arrangement is een schitterend lied van de Engelse singer/songwriter Sting dat komt van zijn album The Last Ship uit 2013 en dat hij samen schreef met de Amerikaanse songwriter, componist & producer Rob Matthes. Hier vind je zijn solo-versie en het duet van het nummer dat hij zong met zijn vaste achtergrond-zangeres Jo Lawry.

Het nummer wordt acapella gezongen door de Nederlandse vocale groep The Junction, in een arrangement van jazz-zanger Henk Kraaijeveld, die ook de mannelijke solo zingt. Ik ben er van onder de indruk. Het is een mooi arrangement, met uitstekende solisten en ook nog eens een goede uitspraak van het Engels.

Practical Arrangement
He
Am I asking for the moon?
Is it really so implausible?
That you and I could soon
come to some kind of arrangement?

I’m not asking for the moon.
I’ve always been a realist.
When it’s really nothing more,
than a simple rearrangement.

With one roof above our heads.
A warm house to return to.
We could start with separate beds.
I could sleep alone or learn to.
I’m not suggesting that we’d find,
some earthly paradise forever.
I mean how often does that happen now.
The answer’s probably never.
But if we come to an arrangement,
a practical arrangement.
And you could learn to love me, given time.

She
Well, I like my independence.
I get by, I’m not greedy.
Do you see yourself as Galahad.
Do I really look that needy?
I brought a child up on my own.
Takes me all my strength to face him.
The father upped and left me,
and I’m not desperate to replace him.
Tell me what kind of catch,
is a struggling single mother?
I respect you and I like you,
but I won’t accept another.
Empty promise when some grey
and stormy rain cloud hangs above me.
When I’ve heard it all a hundred times,
from a man who said he loved me.
But if we came to an arrangement,
a practical arrangement,
then perhaps I’d learn to love you given time.

He
I’m not promising the moon.
I’m not promising a rainbow.
Just a practical solution, to a solitary life.
I’d be a father to your boy.
A shoulder you could lean on.
How bad could it be, to be my wife?

With one roof above our heads.
A warm house to return to.
You wouldn’t have to cook for me,
you wouldn’t have to learn to.
I’m not suggesting that this proposition here
could last forever.
I’ve no intention of deceiving you,
you’re far too clever.
But if we could come to an arrangement,
a practical arrangement.
And perhaps you’ll learn to love me, given time.

It may not be the romance
that you had in mind.
But you could learn to love me, given time.