that's all she wrote

Unknown; circa 1940s; thought to be a reference to Dear John letters. Ernest Tubb recorded a song titled "That's All She Wrote" (sheet music published in 1942), but earlier printed references exist (e.g. The Brownsville Herald, June 1935).

• "If you see a long yellow streak of all fine smoke / That’s my rocket pulling out, that’s all she wrote / […]"
• "There was a note upon my door... I won’t be back no more / That’s all she wrote, "Dear John"."
• "[…] Goodbye — that’s all she wrote."
• "Then I got Mary pregnant and man that was all she wrote / And for my nineteenth birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat"
• "Inside information taken down note by note / A silent footstep that's all she wrote"
• "Bye bye, baby, bye-bye, she said in a letter / And that was all she wrote"
• "He said a prayer, and that was all she wrote"
• "I get five short beeps when the machine starts to boot, and then that's all she wrote[…]"
• "I, I, got a little paycheck / You got big plans and you gotta move / And I don't feel nothing at all / And you can't feel nothing small / "Honey, I love you", that's all she wrote"