“ _ _ _ _ 45 _ _ _ _ _ ” is the ninth track on 22, A Million. Note that the underscores in the title represent the number 45 itself – four scores precede the number, and five scores follow it.

This track was first performed live at Eaux Claires 2016. In a press conference at the Oxbow Hotel in Eau Claire, Vernon said the following:

“The ’45’ song with Lewis, that’s my favorite,” Vernon says. “We made an instrument. Messina and Francis helped make this instrument, and everyone before that — [talk box innovator] Roger Troutman, who did the most amazing vocoding in the world. We all made an instrument together. And then me and Lewis, the instrument we were playing was only possible to play as two people, and it was just us making music as freely as humanly possible. When we made that recording, I played it for my friend Brad Cook, and he was like, ‘Just put that out. That is the best song you’ve ever made.‘”

If you add the track numbers in the album from track 1 to track 9 where the song is found it will equal to 45:

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 = 45

It is also notable that 4 + 5 = 9. These two details again reinforce the significance of numbers having symbolism in the album.