This interview from Pitchfork in 2007 should give you an idea of what this song is about, in my opinion.
Callahan: I cannot tell you exactly what is going on now. I look at my hands and I don't know what they wrought in the past. Are they the hands of a bad man? I used to be an artist. I don't think I am right now. I don't know if I ever will be again. I am something else. I was a student of personal strife. I ran with the wrong crowd early on. I tortured myself for a song. I thought it was the way.
This interview from Pitchfork in 2007 should give you an idea of what this song is about, in my opinion.
Callahan: I cannot tell you exactly what is going on now. I look at my hands and I don't know what they wrought in the past. Are they the hands of a bad man? I used to be an artist. I don't think I am right now. I don't know if I ever will be again. I am something else. I was a student of personal strife. I ran with the wrong crowd early on. I tortured myself for a song. I thought it was the way.