Can te-form be used to modify a noun?

Question

I encountered the te-form before a noun in the lyrics below:

見つめあなたの表情 (Staring at your expression)
隠して明星ギャラクティカ (Hide the Morning Star Galactica)
そのときめいた気持ちが未知だって
手探りでいいから

(full lyrics available here)

I'm not sure if the 隠して is:

a. modifying the noun after it (hiding)

b. a request (hide)

c. modifying the noun 表情 from the previous line (Morning Star Galactica, hiding your expression)

I'm leaning towards b or c, because I've never seen gerund form modify a noun like that before. Help is appreciated -- thanks.

Answer 1

In general, te-form does not directly modify the following noun like an ordinary relative clause. If you did find "te-form + noun" in lyrics, patterns I often see are:

1. The noun is a vocative expression
   • 教えて先生 (≒先生、教えて！)
   • 助けて神様 (≒神様、助けて！)
2. The noun modifies the verb (as an object or an adverbial expression) rather than the verb modifying the noun. Hyperbaton.
   • 聞いてこの話 (≒この話を聞いて)
   • 呼んでマイネーム (≒マイネームを呼んで)
   • 来て来てサンタモニカ (≒サンタモニカに来て)
3. The noun appears totally independent from the verb. The "sentence" ends with the te-form.
   • 追いかけて雪国
   • 泣いて港町
   • 咲いてジュエル

So, we have to examine the context carefully to determine whether 明星ギャラクティカ is a subject or an object of 隠して. In your case, I feel this 隠して明星ギャラクティカ is pattern 1 or 3 above. "Morning Galactica, hide your face/expression!"

Reasons:

• In this context, 表情を隠して makes more sense than 明星を隠して, because the following line is "even if your feeling is unknown...".

• There is a similar pattern in this song, which I think is easier to understand:

  見つめあなたの表情／照らして明星ギャラクティカ
  見上げたあなたの 瞳が 宇宙が／キラキラって光る

  Obviously the star is lighting the face, not the other way around.