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As always, we have to take non-sentence poetry at face value; sometimes it is almost always ambiguous, but there is probably another perspective I am over looking. Taking a look at the final verse from きのこ帝国's second track from 渦になる, titled "退屈しのぎ" (full lyrics and transcription / translation I'm working on):

唐突に始まるお前の昔話
聞きながらアルペジオ
冴えないノンフィクションの結末を
握っているお前の手は冷たいから嫌だ
やさぐれ吐く息に混じる声が歌い出す

The bits of this verse fall out pretty easily, but the way they fit together is a little hard for me. My attempt:

唐突に始まるお前の昔話 == "Suddenly it begins, your reminiscence"

聞きながらアルペジオ == Is the 昔話 being listen to, as in "while listening"? (Could it be ながら "although [in which case, does this imply an arpeggio is being "played"?]) Is this 聞き as in "ask"? Why is アルペジオ surrounded by no verb phrase or particles? Is it アルペジオを as in アルペジオをする?

冴えないノンフィクションの結末を == "concludes the dark / sullen non-fiction"

Could this 冴えない mean "boring / uninteresting" ? Does アルペジオがノンフィクションの結末する mean the same, as in, the arpeggio concludes the non-fiction?

握っているお前の手は冷たいから嫌だ == Does this 握っている describe お前, resulting in something like, "Your hand, that I'm clutching, is cold, so I hate (holding) it"

やさぐれ吐く息に混じる声が歌い出す == "Sings in a voice with a sulking breath"

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As far as parsing goes, my brain is intuitively seeing three "sentences" in this verse.

  • 唐突に始まるお前の昔話(を)聞きながら、アルペジオ。
  • 【{(冴えないノンフィクションの結末)を握っている→}お前の手】は、冷たいから嫌だ。
  • {(やさぐれ吐く息)に混じる声}が、歌い出す。

Note:

  • Some verb after アルペジオ is omitted. What's omitted is a very hard question for me. One easy option is to extract the アルペジオ part as a sentence word (like "Parsley sage rosemary and thyme.").
  • 冴えないノンフィクションの結末 = the ending of a boring/uninteresting/mediocre non-fiction story
  • ~を握っている = to have control/discretion over ~
  • 握っているお前: 握っている modifies お前 (this is perfectly fine in Japanese), and お前 is the person who is doing the action of 握る.
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  • So how about the 唐突に始まる that modifies お前, given the context (or if you want more you could check the OP for the rest of the lyrics), what meaning should I get from "you, who is suddenly beginning", or perhaps, "you, for whom something is suddenly beginning"? Is he beginning telling his/her story? Or is something else (implicit) beginning for him/her? Commented Aug 31, 2017 at 7:18
  • @KennedyRyan Ah, 唐突に始まる modifies お前の昔話 as a whole, not お前 alone. What suddenly started is the 昔話. If you're interested see the discussion here.
    – naruto
    Commented Aug 31, 2017 at 7:26

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