"don't put me on the shelf" etc: phrases only used in song lyrics

Seems like a lot of songs use the phrase "don't put me on the shelf" or "don't put my love on the shelf." A quick google search shows variations by Georgia Satellites, Eagles ("Already Gone"), Taylor Dayne, Coldplay, Jonas Brothers, and Ani DiFranco, and there are others that I can't remember right now. I'm sure that this phrase had some meaning a hundred years ago but the only time I have ever heard it in my lifetime is in song lyrics.

Are there any other "dead phrases" that live on... supporting rhymes in song lyrics? And can anyone else remember other songs with "love on the shelf" variations"?

 

"Don't Forsake Me"

Duffy 2010

 

Oh good grief

 

Variations on "being true", e.g. "I'll be true", "be true to me", "true to you", etc.

 

I've never heard a person in real life use the expression "give a care" as a substitute for "give a damn" or something stronger. Yet the phrase is in songs by artists ranging from the Small Faces to Stevie Wonder to Lil' Jon.

 

"stone in love"...

 

Which song is that from?

 

Squeeze my lemon.

 

I can remember using the phrase as a little kid, FWIW.

 

"Leave that 9 to 5 up on the shelf"

 

Or dust my broom.

 

The use of 'freaky' as a metaphor for 'horny', and by extension, 'freak' as a minced oath for the f word was very common in 90s and early 2000s pop music, yet nobody would have used those in real life. It was one of the things people used to make fun of boybands for.

 

Chased amid fusions of wonder.

 

Any song that refers to going to the movies or films in general as a "picture show." Country music is the biggest offender of its use these days but even folks like Lenny Kravitz have used the term even though no ones called it that probably since "Gone With The Wind" was originally released...

 

"Give a care" is a thing. It's part of the vernacular in my little hometown anyway. Very common phrase.

 

"I've Never Been To Me"

 

Eight days a week

 

Listen to all the song parodies from 'Bill Nye The Science Guy' and count how many times they say "On that you can bet."

The songwriter (I think it was just one guy) used that phrase as padding a LOT.

 

The charming phrase "till the cows come home"
...as lyrically liltingly utilized in the immortal line:

"I'm gonna love her till the cows come home"
- The Beatles - When I Get Home

 

"Take me higher"

 

"Down the line"

 

Pretty common saying in the UK.

 

I thought of "Change We Must" by Jon Anderson, which probably doesn't get used a lot in day-to-day conversations. Unless you're speaking with Yoda.

 

You aren't from the midwest, I see.