WELCOME
Where did the saying "It ain't over until the fat lady sings" come from?
Often mistakenly attributed to N.Y. Yankees Hall of Famer Yogi Berra, this popular quote is not usually written or quoted in its entirety. The actual quote was the following:
"The opera ain't over until the fat lady sings."
This modern-day proverb is credited to San Antonio sports writer/broadcaster Dan Cook. Cook wrote the phrase in an article in 1976 and then used it again on TV in 1978. Cook, who used the quip during an NBA playoff game, was trying to give San Antonio Spurs fans hope after their team lost a game against the Washington Bullets and was on the brink of elimination.
But historians argue that the phrase may be older than that. It may have originated from an old Southern proverb, "Church ain't over until the fat lady sings."
At any rate, this was the name chosen for Ireland’s own ‘The Fat Lady Sings’.
The fatties were unique and set apart from others in many ways, all of which are well documented elsewhere. But most significant amongst them all was the small but vibrant and traveling community that grew up around the band, - as Tom Dunne from Something Happens puts it; the band became ‘…a most excellent mobile Saturday night’.
Through its bulletin board, contact mailing list and download section, we hope this site becomes the embodiment of that very same spirit of unity and community – enjoy, and as we say in Fatties land – ‘keep the faith’.
© 2005, TFLS. Site produced by Robert Hamilton; designed and developed by Kyle Hamilton. Painting by Kasia Iwaniec.