Lyric discussion by Ad_Nauseam 

Cover art for Abattoir Blues lyrics by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

I think warmPhase is pretty much right, although I don't believe the protagonist has to be a trader. It's just saying that the world is like an abattoir, based on torture and slaughter.

It's great though, because whenever I'm in a mood for no obvious reason, I can just say I have the abattoir blues!