I can't confirm the 12 days part, but what I did find out is that the 3 songs I got did not appear as purchased items on my Apple ID I used for purchased, almost as if that connection was lost whenever I got the files (even if free from an iTunes promotion). The media files were on my OS X iTunes and I could transfer them to the phone, but I strongly believe because they are not attached to my Apple ID, and the download was interrupted somehow on the phone, that they appear as "not able to download".
I would guess if Apple added these 3 songs to my purchased list it would go away - but I do not know if they could even do that without probably knowing some ID that would like it to the exact song to add.
I tried a "reset all network settings" as the last resort before hanging up with an Apple tech (who was also not sure on how to solve). This did not work. Since this is not hampering my use of the phone, I will solve it some other day, perhaps when I next visit an Apple store and show them, maybe they would be interested in this scenario.
For now, I think I would have to factory reset the whole phone to get rid of them.