I know one alternate term for oboe is ‘hautbois’ or ‘hautboy’. But I seem to recall another term for the oboe, which implied that people who played the oboe were insane, or were driven insane by the instrument. Can anybody tell me what that term is? Googling has not served me well here. But I know the TM can help!
(This has nothing (well, very little) to do with the fact that Mrs. Mercotan used to play the oboe)
The first thing that popped into my head was “sackbut”, although my Webster’s defines it as a “medieval trombone”, not an oboe, so maybe that’s not it…
Maybe you’re thinking of the “Ill wind that blows no good” cliche (which is of uncertain origins)?
(BTW, the direct predecessor of the oboe was the shawm - although double-reeded instruments go back to ancient Egypt.)
Well, geez, spend a few years riding the rails, carrying your possessions in a bindle and living hand-to-mouth and you might lose it, too.
The Glass Harmonica (the “H” is silent) has a well-deserved reputation for causing madness in its players. The rotating glass bowls originally were made of lead crystal glass, and the lead would leach into the player’s fingers. The lead poisoning caused, among other horrors, madness. Today’s glass harmonicas are lead free, but I cannot vouch for the sanity of today’s GH players. 
An “Ill woodwind that nobody blows good” is the phrase I’m familiar with, sometimes referring to an oboe, sometimes to a clarinet. I read it first in one of the Bond books - Dr. No, maybe.
The shawm and the boroque (sp) oboe took a lot of pressure and caused the veins in the neck to stand out. A leather collor was used to keep from damaging them. The extreem pressure some times caused veins in the hed to hemorage, causing mental problems (or death).
I have an old oboe and it takes more force then the modern one.
The old one is a 12 key oboe. (german)
Spelling and grammer subject to change without notice.
Live and Let Die, actually. Bond and Felix Leiter spend an evening wandering around Harlem, trying to gather information on Mr. Big’s operation. They get grabbed and seperated. When they reunite later on, Leiter describes how he tried to talk his way out, including making one of his captors laugh by quoting the “nobody blows good” line. He credits this bonhomie for getting him only a smack on the head instead of an all-out stomping.
Later on, though, he gets dropped in the shark tank.
Isn’t the clarinet sometimes called “the misery stick”? Is that what you were thinking of?
Sorry, none of those answers, while interesting, ring true. I wish I could recall where I read the word. Because it’s been bugging me.
Thanks for trying, all.