When I hear this quote it makes me think I heard before that it is related to opera. Can’t find information on it.
According to these folks, it was a San Antonio sportscaster who first said it.
Oh, and note that the correct quote is, indeed, “The opera ain’t over until the fat lady sings.”
That site is wrong. I remember my grandparents using that phrase back in the mid 1960’s.
Agree-I ** know ** I heard it in the 60s,before Dandy Don used his “Turn out the lights” on MNF.
Though I don’t know what month the book was published, the expression “Church ain’t over till the fat lady sings.” was documented in Southern Words and sayings [1976] by Fabia Rue Smith and Charles Rayford.
Given that the lead time associated with compiling and publishing such books, this suggests the expression pre-dates Dan Cooks column. It’s a wonderful phrase, but I’m not sure it’d instantly qualify for last second inclusion. We Southerners invent too many colorful turns of phrases each day, for one isolated quip in a Texas column to stand out much. Of course, it might simply have tickled someone’s fancy.
Oops, I meant to add: it is equally likely that the sportscaster or someone he knew read the book, and he unknowingly repeated it.
Rosanne Barr?