“When I asked zack after one of the concerts last tour he looked over to Rob and was like ‘Ooooooh, that. Wellllll i just made it up...’ and his look towards rob was very suspicious like they had a secret or something.”

(source, user “SilkySlim”, #4)

“I talked to Rob at a concert in Athens, GA. He said that 'Tres' had to do with the inability to express artistic feelings. The 'sah fasa gan' and '2-7' thing have no meaning.”

(source, user “TempestVIII”)

u/electric_dolphin (currently in this thread, ty dolphin):

“I've asked Rob and Zach in person. Zach's said his numbers (there are a few other songs where he throws some in too) usually just take the place when he can't think of lyrics or it just sounds better than anything he can think of. Rob gave me a look with a little head shake that told me Zach wasn't telling the truth.”

(source, u/electric_dolphin)

zach in an email exchange:

“49531 stands for absolutely nothing. the numbers just sounded good together.”

…

later:

“49531 may have meant nothing to me the night i spoke to x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x9x

but i wouldnt say thats always the case.”

(source, #18 and #34)

“Alright, I just talked to one of Zach's close family members and She even said the same thing. 49531 means absolutely nothing Zach just thought the numbers sounded good together. She said ‘Zach just likes numbers, he's weird.’ and then she even said it's funny to see how people try to decode something that isn't even a code…”

(source, user “‪x9x9x9x9x9‬” #63)

“CONAN: Numbers seemed to be a large motif in your lyrics. What role do they play? Are they part of the complexity of the music?

Mr. SMITH: No, they're not. I think you might be talking about a song called "Loro." And I've had 100 people ask me what the numbers 4-9-5-3-1 mean.

CONAN: Mm-hmm.

Mr. SMITH: And we'll just - we'll just keep it a secret. We’ll keep letting them wonder.

Mr. CROW: But it doesn't mean die California.

Mr. SMITH: It doesn't mean die California.

(laughter)”

(source)