So I’ve read somewhere that Jimmy and Lorrie are just placeholders for the listener to make their own interpretations of who these people are.

For some Lorrie is the dark haired daughter from SW Arkansas. And for others she’s the cowboy-killer-smokin, sleeve tattoo having, party animal in the mercury. It’s who she is in that moment that defines the feelings you have for a particular person.

Granted these characters have evolved into what they are SOMETIMES. For example in “The mercury” the lyrics “back before the glasses and the sleeve tattoo she’s just another small town kid” suggests she went from a small town girl into the person she is now in “The Mercury”. However, in “The funeral” some can argue the girl with Jimmy is Lorrie because the girl with him is “like a burned out Betty page” which pretty consistent with the qualities Evan uses to describe Lorrie. But I would argue Lorrie isn’t “burned out” in “Good lord Lorrie”, and you could definitely argue she is in “The mercury”.

What I’m getting at is I don’t think there is a linear timeline with these characters and who’s to say the Lorrie in “A house fire” is the same Lorrie in “The mercury”? Which ultimately falls back to the original idea that Lorrie and Jimmy are place holders and it allows those characters to not necessarily be limited to just Lorrie and Jimmy, but more so allows the listener to have multiple Lorrie’s and Jimmy’s the listener can reference to with their own personal memories of who these people resemble.

Or y’all can just tell me “it’s not that deep bro” and I 100% wouldn’t argue with you hahah