nel 2004 è stato affidato a Billy Joel il commento per il 49° posto in cui il giornale Rolling Stone ha posizionato Elton nella classifica degli immortali di tutti i tempi:

The Immortals 

The Greatest Artists of All Time: 49) Elton John

Elton kicks my ass on piano. He's fantastic -- a throwback to Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino and Little Richard. His spontaneous, improvisational playing always challenges me. And that is his contribution to rock & roll and pop: his musicianship. Before him, rock was a bunch of James Taylors -- guitar-based singer-songwriter stuff. Elton brought back fantastic piano-based rock. Elton knows what his instrument is capable of. The piano is a percussion instrument, like a drum. You don't strum a piano. You don't bow a piano. You bang and strike a piano. You beat the shit out of a piano. Elton knows exactly how to do that - he always had that rhythmic, very African, syncopated style that comes from being well versed in gospel and good old R&B. Elton and Bernie Taupin did some brilliant songwriting during the first part of his career, from Elton John to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

The first time we met we were in Holland, at a hotel in Amsterdam. It was in the mid-Seventies, and he was at his peak -- it was the height of the Elton John era -- and I was just starting out as the "Piano Man" guy. We went into a private room and we just talked. I told him what a fan I was, and he said he knew my stuff. I thought this was so cool: There were a thousand guitar players, but there were only two of us. The English piano player and the American piano player. And, seminally, rock & roll was not just guitar. Elton gave a funny-looking guy like me -- and so many others -- an opportunity to be a singer-songwriter. When Elton was in his first band, Bluesology, he never thought he could be a rock star. Same as me. I didn't look like Mick Jagger or Paul McCartney or Jim Morrison. Sure, we thought we'd be piano players for big rock bands, but funnily enough he ended up with big, silly glasses and crazy outfits, and I ended up with my dopey stage behavior, both of us rock stars. To this day we laugh about that. And he keeps going on and on. I haven't written a song since 1993, and he asks me, "Billy, why don't you write some new songs?" I say, "Elton, why don't you write less new songs?" At $200 a ticket, you can't shove new stuff down people's throats. So much of his stuff is amazing, though: "Rocket Man," "Crocodile Rock," "Bennie and the Jets," "Tiny Dancer," "Your Song" and "The Bitch Is Back." That's what they want to hear.

Any melodic songwriter owes a debt to Elton John, the supreme melodist. John Mayer, Five for Fighting, Alicia Keys. Christ, I don't know shit about new bands, but anybody who plays the keyboard and likes melody must give a nod to Elton. Like Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Carole King and the Beatles, he carried on the rich tradition of writing beautiful melodies.

BILLY JOEL

Disco: 2
My Life
Big Shot
You May Be Right
It's Still Rock And Roll To Me
Don't Ask Me Why
She's Got A Way
Pressure
Allentown
Goodnight Saigon
Tell Her About It
Uptown Girl
The Longest Time
You're Only Human (Second Wind)
The Night Is Still Young 

Disc 2 
I Go To Extremes
Goodnight Saigon
We Didn't Start The Fire
Big Man On Mulberry Street
Two Thousand Years
Auld Lang Syne
The River Of Dreams
Scenes From An Italian Restaurant
Dance To The Music
Honky Tonk Women
It's Still Rock And Roll To Me
You May Be Right
This Night 

Disco 2 
Goodnight Saigon
An Innocent Man
Uptown Girl
The Longest Time
Tell Her About It
Leave A Tender Moment Alone
A Matter Of Trust
Baby Grand
I Go To Extremes
We Didn't Start The Fire
Leningrad
The Downeaster 'Alexa'
And So It Goes
The River Of Dreams
All About Soul
Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)
Waltz #1 (Nunley's Carousel)
Invention In C Minor