Lyric discussion by Sander_vn 

Cover art for O'Malley's Bar lyrics by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

The character in this song seems to think that it is not him who decides his actions.

"my hand decided that the time had come" "If I have no free will then how can I Be morally culpable, I wonder "

I suspect his filosofy is this whole world is an absurd, meaningless game. Therefore there is no wrong or right. But what makes him weak is that he still loves himself, which doesn't fit in his filosofy. ("I had a long hard think about dieing, and did exactly what they said") Or maybe he uses the excuse of not having free will to get his kicks without feeling responsible.