Who first said: "It ain''t over ''till the fat lady sings"? | Notes and Queries

Who first said: "It ain't over 'till the fat lady sings"?

Halmshaw, Ferriby, UK

• I have heard this attributed to Sam Goldwyn. As for the fat lady, I've no idea who she was or what she was singing.

  Alasdair Patrick, Dana Point, California, USA

• The saying comes from baseball - I think from one of the New York stadiums (possibly the Brooklyn Dodgers' home) in the inter-war period. It comes quite simply from the fact that a rather fat, older, female fan used to start singing at the end of every game. So the game wasn't over till the fat lady sang.

  Norman Ross, Dublin, Ireland

• The correct expression is that; "the opera ain't over till the fat lady sings." It is said that this expression was first used by a sports writer, Dan Cook, writing for the San Antonio News-Express, Texas, round about the year 1976. Dan Cook doubled up as a sporting commentator for KENS-TV and repeated the line in an attempt to raise the fortunes of the local basketball team, the San Antonio Spurs in a series against the Washington Bullets in 1978. This was to no avail because the Spurs lost. However, the bullets' coach, Dick Motta, took up the phrase as a caution to fans for overconfidence. From there on it came into general use.

  Hollingworth, Blagnac, France

• The fat lady.

  Daniel Morgan, Boston US

• My great-grandfather, Mervyn C.Grover (better known in the opera world as Nifty Grover III,) claims this phrase was started up by the stage hands in New York opera houses, but was incorrectly claimed by theater owners when picked up on by a journalist.

  Monty Grover, Eslie, Idaho

• With respect, I have long understood the saying to come from the fact that Bessie Smith always sang "America the Beautiful" at a major game -- ie: the event was not complete without Miss Smith's contribution.

  David Small, Melbourne, Australia

• It is a misquotation from the coach of an all-deaf baseball team who said "it ain't over till the fat lady signs" but this still doesn't answer who the fat lady was.

  Simon Rake, Totnes, Devon

• The way I heard it was that in the twenties Al Capone developed a taste for opera, mugging up assiduously on recordings, and one night went to a live performance of Tosca, accompanied by two bodyguards. These gents, who hadn't done the same homework as Al, got up to go at the end of the first aria, only for Al to drag them back into their seats, snarling ... you guessed it.

  Mark Power, Dublin Ireland

• Tha fat lady in question is not from Baseball, America is not the centre of the Universe. That said, the fat lady in question is the bird that sings The Valkyrie at the end of Verdi's opera.

  Mr H, Glasgow

• I have always been told that the originator of this was baseball's Yogi Berra, also credited with "It ain't over till it's over" and "90% of the game is one half mental". As I type this though, I realize that I have probably been told wrong, since surely Yogi never attended an opera in his life.

  Brandon Thornburg, Portland, OR(formerly Poynton, Cheshire) USA

• The phrase relates to Tristan who, having travelled through fire, death and climbing a mountain finally meets the mighty Brunhilde, whose singing he has to listen to before he can make love to her.

  Stuart Goodacre, Lincoln UK