Shapiro, who published it in The Yale Book of Quotations. The 1976 use of the phrase was discovered by Fred R. He was one of the world’s funniest guys,' said Bill, a contender for that title himself. He always assumed it was coined on the spot. In the same newspaper on November 26, 2006, Steve Blow followed up the discovery by contacting Bill Morgan about the incident: īill vividly remembers the comment and the uproar it caused throughout the press box. is going to be a tight one after all.' 'Right', said Ralph, 'the opera ain’t over until the fat lady sings.' The first recorded use appeared in the Dallas Morning News on March 10, 1976: ĭespite his obvious allegiance to the Red Raiders, Texas Tech sports information director Ralph Carpenter was the picture of professional objectivity when the Aggies rallied for a 72–72 tie late in the SWC tournament finals. The saying has become so well known that it was the subject of an article in the journal Obesity Reviews. As Götterdämmerung is about the end of the world (or at least the world of the Norse gods), in a very significant way 'it is over when the fat lady sings.'

Her farewell scene lasts almost twenty minutes and leads directly to the finale of the whole Ring Cycle.

The 'fat lady' is thus the valkyrie Brünnhilde, who was traditionally presented as a very buxom lady. The imagery of Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen and its last part, Götterdämmerung, is typically used in depictions accompanying uses of the phrase. The phrase is generally understood to be a reference to opera sopranos, who were traditionally amply contoured.

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