I'm a Writer, Not a Fighter is the third studio album by Irish singer-songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan, originally released by MAM Records in September 1973.

After becoming one of the most successful performers worldwide in 1972, O'Sullivan pursued new directions with the album, taking influence from rock music and funk and incorporating an array of then-new electric keyboards, as well as emphasizing a new rhythmical focus.

Mills would play keyboards and add backing vocals to tracks, while a rhythm section was also in place and Johnnie Spence returned to provide string arrangements.

O'Sullivan explained: "It was the early days of synths and clavinets, these instruments were emerging, much to any keyboard players' pleasure led in no small part by Stevie Wonder, so me and Gordon had some of these and just played around with them.

[8] "Not in a Million Years" is one of the album's experiments with different rhythms, fusing reggae with rhumba,[8] and has been described as a "left-field musical gem" with harmonic and melodic surprises.

[11] O'Sullivan explained the song's lyrics to Paul Gambaccini of Rolling Stone: "I didn't know what 'get down' means in America, nor 'dog' for that matter, until Gordon came back from the States and told me.

[17] He made his New York City debut at the Avery Fisher Hall in early October, where he played some of the songs from the upcoming album to positive audience reception.

He was inspired by Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin and Ian Gillan of Deep Purple, who he felt could "hold a wild show flogging themselves as much as their fans whereas I always had to sit at the piano well-behaved."

"[5] To launch the promotion of I'm a Writer, Not a Fighter, the label released the single "Ooh Baby",[9] a song which fitted into the "funk-flected" trend of the era that also included T. Rex's "Teenage Dream" (1974) and Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets" (1974).

[22] In April 2012, the Union Square Music reissue label Salvo released a remastered version of I'm a Writer, Not a Fighter as part of their Gilbert O'Sullivan – A Singer & His Songs series.

"[6] In a contemporary review, Tony Stewart of the NME, who did not enjoy Back to Front, felt that I'm a Writer, Not a Fighter re-established O'Sullivan, "in my eyes, as a writer-performer."

He panned the two singles, but felt there was "little to criticise" elsewhere, praising the "well expressed" subject matters and lyrical substance, O'Sullivan's "originality in composing" and the instrumentation and arrangement, among other things.

"[24] By contrast, a reviewer for the Buckinghamshire Examiner felt the album was "firmly cast" in the mould of derivative easy listening pop, with "the ever-present syncopated piano and bass-line" failing to distinguish individual songs.

"[9] Tom Ewing of Freaky Trigger called "Get Down" a "rumbustious thing," praising the "chiming piano hits on the chorus" though deriding the "dog/girl metaphor which Sullivan doesn’t take anywhere.