Almanac Music: Dylan Cover Songs – International Style #7: Danish Artists Do Rare Dylan.

 

In my research into Dylan covers, I have been pleasantly surprised by the impact of Dylan’s songbook across most nations on the planet, whether English speaking or not.

 

Scandinavian countries, in particular, have a rich history of covering Dylan’s songbook. For example, to date, I have uncovered 68 albums, released between 1964 – 2023, by Danish artists that include at least one Dylan cover (and, occasionally, an entire album of Dylan covers).

 

The majority of these Danish-based albums are sung in English and it has surprised me how adventurous the Danes have been in exploring Dylan’s songbook.

 

For this article, the 7^th in my International Style series, I have selected what I regard to be the twelve most ‘interesting’ Dylan covers by Danish artists based on:

 

• canvassing Dylan’s career;
• rarely covered songs; and/or
• quality of the recording.

 

The contributions to this article will be presented in chronological order as Dylan’s career unfolds upon the world stage.

 

 

Kira Martini

 

Kira is a jazz/pop vocalist who has released six albums between 2012 – 2024. In 2023, Kira was presented with the Palae Bar Jazz Award for her significant contribution to Danish jazz music.

 

Within her six albums, Kira has covered two Dylan songs, both in a warm and embracing style: ‘Don’t Think Twice Its Alright’ (on her 2019 Warm Valley album); and this article’s featured song ‘Tomorrow Is A Long Time’ from her 2016 Yellow House Sessions album.

 

 

 

‘Tomorrow Is A Long Time’ was first premiered by Dylan at his April 1963 Town Hall, New York concert. A copy of that live version was subsequently released on his 1971 Greatest Hits Vol.II double album.

 

 

Per Frost

 

Until his death in 2023, Per was a stalwart of the Danish rock’n’roll establishment. An accomplished guitarist and bassist, Per was active from 1974 as a member of various bands as well as releasing eight studio albums under his own name.

 

It is estimated that Per has appeared on over 180 Danish albums during his career. In 2025, Per was posthumously awarded the prestigious Ken Gudman Award for his contribution to the Danish music industry.

 

Per has honoured the Dylan songbook on three occasions: ‘Only A Hobo’ (a Witmark & Sons demo that Dylan recorded in August 1963 and Per covered on his 1995 Breakin’ Ice album); ‘Shelter From The Storm’ (on his 2011 When The Time Is Right album); and this article’s featured song ‘Black Crow Blues’, released on Per’s final studio album, the 2018 The Calling.

 

 

 

This featured cover is one of only four known cover versions of this largely forgotten Dylan song. The song was first recorded by Dylan in June 1964 and released on his August 1964 Another Side of Bob Dylan album.

 

 

Young Flowers

 

Young Flowers were a psychedelic progressive rock band, founded in Copenhagen in 1967. Although the band was shortlived (disbanding in 1970), they played a critical role in the establishment of an ambitious Danish rock movement.

 

Two of the band’s members continued to advance Danish rock for decades to follow – Per Frost and Ken Gudman. Young Flowers released two studio albums and following their dissolution, a number of compilation albums of unreleased studio and live recordings were also released.

 

During their short tenure, the band covered three contemporaneous Dylan songs: ‘Drifter’s Escape’ and ‘Down Along The Cove’ (from Dylan’s 1967 John Wesley Harding album) and ‘Tonight I’ll be Staying Here With You’ (from 1969 Nashville Skyline album). The featured song for this article is ‘Down Along The Cove’.

 

 

 

Over the years there have been twenty covers of ‘Down Along The Cove’ but none by well-known artists. The cover by Young Flowers was the first cover ever to be released.

 

 

Delta Cross Band

 

Once upon a time in the mid 1960s, The Delta Blues band was formed. It is claimed to be Scandinavia’s oldest blues band and the founders of the blues scene in Denmark. Meanwhile, in the USA, Billy Cross (nee Schwartz) was a guitarist for Sha Na Na when they performed at Woodstock in 1969.

 

By 1976, the Delta Blues band had released two studio albums. Meanwhile, in the USA, Billy Cross was musical director for the National touring company of Hair before becoming a member of Dylan’s touring band between 1977-1979 and playing on the 1978 Bob Dylan At Budokan live and Street Legal studio albums.

 

In late 1979, Billy Cross moved permanently to Copenhagen, Denmark and joined the Delta Blues Band, which was then renamed the Delta Cross Band. The renamed band released four studio albums between 1980 – 1990.

 

In a remarkable twist of Dylan cover song history, the Delta Cross Band included the first ever version of Dylan’s ‘Legionnaires Disease’ on their 1981 Up Front album.

 

 

 

If you have never heard of this Dylan composition before, then fear not. Dylan wrote this song, with a melody reminiscent of ‘Like A Rolling Stone,’ around the beginning of 1978. The only reason Billy Cross knew of this song is that it was one of the songs performed as part of the sound check routine before each concert on the Japan/New Zealand/Australian tour that lasted between 20 February – 1 April 1978.

 

When the time came shortly thereafter to record the Street Legal album (i.e. between 25 April – 1 May 1978), ‘Legionnaires Disease’ was not considered, not even as an outtake. Accordingly, Dylan has never recorded a studio or live version of the song and it has not found its way onto any Dylan album, including the Bootleg Series.

 

I am not the least bit surprised that Dylan ignored this song beyond warming up the band and his vocal cords before the 1978 Japan/NZ/Australian concerts. In my opinion, it is one of Dylan’s poorest song writing efforts.

 

Nevertheless, ‘Legionnaires Disease’ is registered as a Dylan composition on his official website and is reproduced in the Bob Dylan Lyrics publication. One assumes, for copyright reasons and to collect royalties from the Delta Cross Band’s recording, it was necessary to do so.

 

 

Dissing Lars & Cross

 

In 2022, Billy Cross (refer above), joined forces with established Danish indie/folk rock artists Rasmus & Jonas Dissing and Lars Nissen. The quartet called themselves ‘Dissing Lars & Cross’ and in November 2022 they released Copenhagen Skyline.

 

The album contained eight Billy Cross original songs plus covers of two rare Dylan songs. One of the rare songs was another version of ‘Legionnaires Disease’, which is showcased above. The other rare song was a cover of a song co-written by Dylan and Helena Springs in 1978 and titled ‘More Than Flesh And Blood Can Bear’. What follows is the only known version of this song to be released on a studio album:

 

 

 

Now, I could write an entire article on Helena Springs (and one day I just may), but for now suffice to say that in early 1978, at the age of 17, she successfully auditioned as a backup vocalist for Dylan’s touring band. By March 1978, while spending quality time together in a Brisbane hotel on the Australian leg of the tour, Dylan took out his guitar and they jointly composed several songs. It is claimed that before leaving the Dylan bandwagon in late 1979, Dylan and Helena had co-written nineteen songs.

 

‘More Than Flesh And Blood Can Bear’ was one of those joint compositions and it was intended to be Helena’s debut single, although that never eventuated. In fact, neither Helena nor Dylan have recorded a studio version of ‘More Than Flesh And Blood Can Bear’. The song was, however, performed as part of the song check routine when Dylan’s 1978 ‘World Tour’ kicked off in London in mid-June. It was in this setting that Billy Cross became aware of the song.

 

By the way: Helena eventually released a studio album in the mid-1980s, however not a single Dylan/Springs co-written song appears on the album.

 

Although ‘More Than Flesh And Blood Can Bear’ is recognised as a Dylan/Springs co-write, the song is not listed as a Dylan composition on his official website nor is it reproduced in the Bob Dylan Lyrics publication. However, if one takes the time to flip over the album cover to Dissing Lars & Cross’s Copenhagen Skyline, one will find at track 4 of Side A the following: ‘More than Flesh & Blood Can Bear <Bob Dylan>’. Billy Cross knew – for he was there when it was all happening.

 

 

Eivor

 

The Faroe Islands lie in the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately equidistant from Iceland, Norway and Scotland. Despite this geographic fact, the islands are part of the Kingdom of Denmark – thus qualifying any singer/songwriter from this self-governing archipelago to participate on this ‘Danish Artists’ article.

 

Eivor is an art pop/chamber pop/folk pop/electropop/Nordic folk singer/songwriter. She was born in 1983 at Syorugota, a village on the east coast of the Faroese island of Eysturoy. The village has a population of approximately 500 and receives an average of 3 hours sunshine per day.

 

Eivor released her self-titled debut album in 2000, while still residing on the Faroe Islands. She subsequently moved to Iceland in 2002 where she has released a further nine studio albums and four live albums.

 

In 2009, Eivor released her Live album which captured a variety of live performances throughout her career. The final track on the album is a cover of Dylan’s ‘Death Is Not The End’:

 

 

 

Dylan recorded this song on his 1988 Down In The Groove album. While not widely known or covered, versions have been released by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (1996) and The Waterboys (1998).

 

 

Aske Jacoby

 

Aske Jacoby has been a stalwart of the Danish music industry since the 1980s and his guitar work can be heard on over 500 albums. As well as being a member of numerous Danish bands, Aske has also released nine solo albums.

 

His style has been described as: Americana from outer space; profound storytelling combined with soulful melodies and elegant musical performances. I would concur with that description.

 

Aske has only ventured into the Dylan songbook once – on his 1997 Clubbing album with ‘Ring Them Bells’:

 

 

 

I’ve listened to most of the fifty covers of ‘Ring Them Bells’, and this is, in my opinion, the very best.

 

Dylan released the original version of this song on his 1989 Oh Mercy album.

 

 

String Swing

 

String Swing is a Copenhagen-based jazz group that has been active since 2000. The group’s first two albums – Red Shoes (2004) and Blue Hat (2005) – each won ‘Best Danish Jazz Album’ in their respective years.

 

With the vocal talents of Alice Carreri, the group took on Dylan’s ‘Things Have Changed’ on their 2008 Waiting For The Good Times album:

 

 

 

Dylan recorded this song for the 2000 Wonder Boys film. The song won ‘best original song’ at the 2001 Academy Awards. Dylan happened to be touring at the time of the awards ceremony and broadcast his acceptance speech from Sydney.

 

 

The Blues Overdrive   

 

The Blues Overdrive are a blues’n’roots band from Copenhagen that has been active since 2000. The band is primarily a touring band and continues to tour extensively across Europe.

 

The band released three albums between 2012 – 2017, with the latter two albums – Clinch (2015) and Overdrive Live! (2017) both winning the ‘European Blues Awards Album Of The Year’.

 

It was on their Overdrive Live! album that the Dylan songbook was interrogated – with an excellent cover of ‘High Water (For Charley Patton)’:

 

 

 

Dylan recorded this song on his 2001 “Love And Theft” album. There have been less than a handful of covers of this song by recognised artists, with The Blues Overdrive’s 2017 version the most recent to be released.

 

 

Peter Viskinde Band

 

Peter Viskinde (b: 14 November 1953/d: 23 March 2021) has been at the centre of Danish rock music since the 1970s. He is best known as a founding member, guitarist and songwriter for Big Fat Snake (1991-2017) – a band name that he ‘acquired’ from Dylan’s 1990 song ‘Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle’.

 

Peter has also released over 20 albums between 1986 – 2018 as a solo artist or under the Peter Viskinde Band name.

 

Peter’s deep and abiding respect for Dylan was best revealed by the release of his 2011 Can’t Escape From You album. The twelve tracks on the album are all Dylan cover songs – spanning every decade of Dylan’s career. Most interestingly, the album title is also a Dylan song, albeit a virtually unknown Dylan song – one of only two original songs written by Dylan in 2005. Peter Viskinde’s cover of ‘Can’t Escape From You’ is the only known cover of that song:

 

 

 

Peter is also recognised as a visual artist and an example of his artwork can be viewed on the YouTube clip offered above.

 

Although Dylan did a studio recording of this song in December 2005, it has never been released on a studio album. The only reason that Peter and the world at large are aware of this song is that it was included on the 2008 The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs – Rare & Unreleased 1989-2006.

 

 

Nalle & His Crazy Ivans

 

Rock Nalle (nee Roland Sorensen b: 10 April 1943/d: 14 December 2022) was a Danish rock’n’roll and soul singer. In a recording career that began in 1975 and continued until his death, Nalle released some twenty albums.

 

It is claimed that Nalle learnt ‘English’ while travelling in New Zealand and Australia around 1960. It is also claimed that Nalle performed with several different bands in Australia at that time. Although those claims are difficult to verify, it is perhaps reasonable to assume that the foundations in English language and in Western-style rock’n’roll that Nalle received while in Australia were highly beneficial to his subsequent rock’n’roll singing career in Denmark.

 

Throughout his career, Nalle recorded over 160, mostly USA-based, rock and soul covers. In 2009, on his Back To The Roots album, Nalle turned his voice and his ‘Crazy Ivans’ to the Dylan songbook for the first and only time. As it seems is the Danish way, the selected cover was a surprise – the largely unknown and overlooked ‘This Dream Of You’:

 

 

 

Dylan released his original of this song on his April 2009 Together Through Life album.

 

Apart from Nalle’s cover (which was the first ever cover, coming out several months after Dylan’s original), there have only been two other covers: Sofia Laiti – a jazz-pop vocalist from Finland; and Diana Krall – a jazz vocalist from Canada.

 

 

Cæcilie Norby

 

Cæcilie was bound to find her way into the world of music – her dad, Erik, was a classical composer and her mum, Solveig, was an opera singer. By 1982, when she was only 18, Cæcilie was a founding member of the Street Beat band and the jazz-rock band Frontline.

 

From 1995 onwards, Cæcilie has focussed on a jazz-infused solo career. She has since released thirteen albums.

 

In 2019, on her Hidden Treasures EP, Cæcilie recorded a cover of an elusive Dylan/Hunter song – ‘Life Is Hard’:

 

 

 

This cover is a rare find – it is the only cover version released by a professional artist; with two other covers on self-release media.

 

Dylan released this original song, co-written with Robert Hunter (lyricist for the Grateful Dead), on his 2009 Together Through Life album.

 

By the way: In 2013, Cæcilie recorded an intriguingly ‘jazzy’ version of Dylan’s ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ on her Silent Ways album. It is worth a listen if you are that way inclined.

 

 

Concluding remarks:

 

Danish singers and bands have been very entertaining and adventurous in their engagement with the Dylan songbook.

 

I’m not sure if it is the low average hours of sunshine per day, but other very northern countries – Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Switzerland – also reveal a ‘higher than average’ propensity to tackle the less well-known songs in Dylan’s songbook.

 

In this International Style series, I have earmarked each of those countries for a dedicated article. However, given the wide diversity of themed articles in the pipeline, it is unlikely that we will return to any of these ‘near Arctic Circle countries’ until this time in 2026.

 

 

More from Karl Dubravs can be read HERE.

 

 

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