"I'm Not the Man I Used to Be" is a song by British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

-rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band Fine Young Cannibals

Fine Young Cannibals

Fine Young Cannibals were a British band formed in Birmingham, England, in 1984, by bassist David Steele and guitarist Andy Cox , and singer Roland Gift...

. It was released as the fourth single from the band's 1989 album The Raw & the Cooked

The Raw and the Cooked (album)

The Raw & the Cooked is the second and final album by Fine Young Cannibals. A remixed version was also released as The Raw and the Remix. Selling over two million copies, The Raw & the Cooked included two US number one songs "She Drives Me Crazy" and "Good Thing"...

. The song reached the top 40 charts in the United Kingdom, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, and the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

.

Composition

Written by lead vocalist

Lead vocalist

The lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...

 Roland Gift

Roland Gift

Roland Lee Gift is a British singer and actor. He was the lead singer of the band Fine Young Cannibals.-Biography:...

 and bassist

Bassist

A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...

 David Steele

David Steele (musician)

David "Shuffle" Steele is an English musician who was a member of The Beat and Fine Young Cannibals.-Career:...

, "I'm Not the Man I Used to Be" contains prominent drum beats with keyboards and finger-picked guitar accompaniment.
Allmusic writer Jo-Ann Greene described the song as having "a futuristic jungle beat and an almost housey production".

Release and reception

"I'm Not the Man I Used to Be" entered the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 in November 1989 and spent eight weeks on the chart, peaking at number 20.
The song also peaked at number 29 in Austria and the Netherlands, number 35 in Canada, and number 54 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.
Dave Thompson of Allmusic praised Gift for "[h]is introspective lyrics and almost wistful performance".
The song was featured in a 2009 episode of the American television series Nip/Tuck

Nip/Tuck

Nip/Tuck is an American drama series created by Ryan Murphy, which aired on FX in the United States. The series focuses on McNamara/Troy, a plastic surgery practice, and follows its founders, Sean McNamara and Christian Troy...

on FX

FX Networks

FX is the name of a number of related pay television channels owned by News Corporation's Fox Entertainment Group...

.

Track listing

7" Vinyl

1. "I'm Not the Man I Used to Be" - 4:20
2. "Motherless Child" - 2:33

12" Vinyl, CD Maxi-Single

1. "I'm Not The Man I Used To Be" (7" mix) - 4:20
2. "I'm Not The Man I Used To Be" (12" remix) - 4:42
3. "I'm Not The Man I Used To Be" (instrumental) - 4:25
4. "Motherless Child" - 2:37

Chart performance

Chart (1989)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	20
Austrian Singles Chart Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann...	29
Canadian Singles Chart	35
Dutch Top 40 Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting...	29
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	54
U.S. Dance Music/Club Play	8