Skip to main content

Creativity Quote by Patti LaBelle

"So if anybody wants to get me something, get me 60 crabs - one for each year. I don't want no diamonds, I don't want no shoes, I don't want no party. I want some crabs"

About this Quote

Patti LaBelle’s crab request is funny on its face, but the humor is doing real work: it swats away the tired script of celebrity celebration and replaces it with something tactile, specific, and unapologetically hers. “60 crabs - one for each year” turns a milestone birthday into a counting ritual you can taste. It’s excess, yes, but it’s domestic excess, the kind that belongs to family tables and kitchen gossip, not velvet ropes.

The repetition - “I don’t want no diamonds, I don’t want no shoes, I don’t want no party” - is a deliberate stripping away of what people assume a diva is supposed to desire. Those are status objects, socially legible gifts meant to perform admiration in public. Crabs are different: messy, communal, requiring hands, tools, time, and probably other people leaning in. She’s choosing pleasure that can’t be easily photographed into a brand. It’s a flex that dodges respectability and embraces appetite.

There’s also an old-school Black cultural resonance here: seafood spreads as celebration, as care, as “we’re together and we’re eating good.” LaBelle isn’t rejecting gratitude; she’s redirecting it away from consumer fantasy and toward a tradition of abundance you can share. The subtext lands as a boundary and an invitation: don’t mythologize me with jewels. Feed me, gather around, and let the joy be loud and sticky.

Quote Details

TopicBirthday
SourceHelp us find the source
Cite

Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
LaBelle, Patti. (2026, January 15). So if anybody wants to get me something, get me 60 crabs - one for each year. I don't want no diamonds, I don't want no shoes, I don't want no party. I want some crabs. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/so-if-anybody-wants-to-get-me-something-get-me-60-151136/

Chicago Style
LaBelle, Patti. "So if anybody wants to get me something, get me 60 crabs - one for each year. I don't want no diamonds, I don't want no shoes, I don't want no party. I want some crabs." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/so-if-anybody-wants-to-get-me-something-get-me-60-151136/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"So if anybody wants to get me something, get me 60 crabs - one for each year. I don't want no diamonds, I don't want no shoes, I don't want no party. I want some crabs." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/so-if-anybody-wants-to-get-me-something-get-me-60-151136/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

More Quotes by Patti Add to List
Patti LaBelle: I Want Sixty Crabs, Not Diamonds
Click to enlarge Portrait | Landscape

About the Author

USA Flag

Patti LaBelle (born May 24, 1944) is a Musician from USA.

23 more quotes available

View Profile

Similar Quotes

Phil McGraw, Psychologist
Phil McGraw
Christie Hefner, Businessman
Robertson Davies, Novelist