'It's not over 'til the fat lady sings.'

Question

I know this has just become a resolved question, but I disagree.

I think it comes from baseball, when a diva from the nearest opera house would lead the singing of the National Anthem after the bottom of the ninth - in the days before amplification.

Answer 1

Well, if you trust Wikipedia, it is an opera reference (to Kate Smith of "God Bless America" fame):

"Many Yogi Berra fans will assert that this expression itself was long in use before the nineteen seventies, and will suggest that his comment 'It ain't over until it's over' is a variation and correction of 'It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings' which in fact was a comment about the singer Kate Smith. His version of it in turn was an alternate expression of the old baseball truism that, 'The game isn't over until the last man is out.'"

Answer 2

how come u got such better answeers than me???

Answer 3

The full quote is "The OPERA ain't over till the fat lady sings", and it stems from the fact that many sopranos are ladies of "magnificent proportions". Said ladies often come to grief in the final act of the opera and sing a final aria.

Answer 4

     I always thought it was from Dandy Don Meredith. He was an announcer on Monday Night Football years ago.

Answer 5

I believe that the fat lady referred to was the steam whistle at the end of  a pipe on factories. At the end of day the steam whistle would be activated to announce the end of the shift. So, when the "fat lady" sang everyone went home.