# Harp music symbolizing a flashback: Where did that start? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 31, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harp-music-symbolizing-a-flashback-where-did-that-start/775990 "2016-12-31T20:08:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harp-music-symbolizing-a-flashback-where-did-that-start/775990/1 "2016-12-31T20:08:12Z")
I was listening to _Pop Culture Happy Hour_ this week, and they were doing their annual “did we keep our resolutions from last year” episode. And for each person on the podcast, they would set up an audio clip from last year’s show by playing a short run of notes on the harp, then segueing into the past. It sounded something (though not exactly) [like this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8EO9Y1ZO9E). It’s a phenomenon referenced at [TV Tropes’ Flashback … Back … Back](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FlashBackBackBack) page. I immediately recognized it from a bazillion bits of pop culture I’ve heard or seen before —but it got me wondering: Where does that convention come from? How did glissandos on the harp come to mean “we’re going back in time”? Is there a particular piece of culture that kicked off the idea? ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harp-music-symbolizing-a-flashback-where-did-that-start/775990/2 "2017-01-18T04:04:30Z")
I’m bumping, once, now that we’re past all the holidays, including MLK’s Birthday.