Off the top of my head, that makes sense. The open strings are critical for Brain Stew, but not St. Jimmy. So, if the goal is to maintain the original keys, that would be the best way to do it.
Brain Stew is all bar chords, no? I guess you couldn't have the pitch as lone if you played it in standard which is why they do it. St. Jimmy, since BJA doesn't play guitar on it, works if they play in position 1/2 step up (Billie tends to love playing open chords from what I've noticed).
The chorus/outro include 3 open strings as well. Which is why the open strings are critical than St Jimmy. I haven’t bothered to listen to the song or look at chord charta, but I don’t recall anything like that in St Jimmy. Any low E’s can just be played at the first fret.
This ranks 4 or 5 for me in the discography but it's a super consistent album. No particular complaints with it.
Surprised it wasn’t released with the AI 20th anniversary edition last year. Maybe they are saving it for the 25th?
They've been bringing out a tasty track from deep in the catalogue each night during the past few gigs. One Of My Lies, Paper Lanterns, 2000 Light Years.