I guess there really isn't anything about it that makes it a reference to Neuromancer. It's just my own personal death-of-the-author interpretation; I've only s

I guess there really isn't anything about it that makes it a reference to Neuromancer. It's just my own personal death-of-the-author interpretation; I've only seen the idiom in Neuromancer. But apparently, as you said, it is common and predates Neuromancer. I really appreciate the country love-song context; it is both interesting and amusing.