Joni Mitchell Covers Elton John's 'I'm Still Standing' — and Changes the Lyrics — at the Gershwin Prize Ceremony

Joni Mitchell is paying tribute to the Rocket Man.

During a Monday night airing of the Gershwin Prize ceremony in Washington, Mitchell took the stage to perform Elton John's 1983 hit "I'm Still Standing" in his honor.

Mitchell — who was awarded the Gershwin Prize for popular song last year — was introduced by Brandi Carlile, and she told the crowd that the song means a lot to Mitchell, 80.

Per Carlile's introduction, Mitchell received a blessing from John, 77, and Bernie Taupin, 73, who was also honored that night by The Library of Congress, to change some of the lyrics to fit her style.

"[It's] honestly the most Joni Mitchell thing I've ever heard of," Carlile, 42, said in the since-deleted video, prompting a laughing reaction from the crowd.

During her performance, Mitchell also played with the arrangement by giving it a jazzy feeling and was standing the entire time. She sang with a backing band including Carlile, Annie Lennox, Blake Mills and Davey Johnstone.

John and Taupin sat together during the performance and were smiling and waving their hands in the air when the camera panned to them.

The ceremony happened last month at Washington's DAR Constitution Hall and included more performances by Maren Morris, Metallica, Lennox and Carlile. John took the stage to perform his songs “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters” and “Saturday Night’s Alright." 

John and Taupin's Gershwin Prize comes after the "Cold" singer reached EGOT status (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) in January when his Disney+ special, Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium, took home the Emmy for best variety special.

Meanwhile, earlier this year, Mitchell took the stage at the 2024 Grammy Awards for a history-making performance of "Both Sides Now."

"Whether we know it or not any one of us out here who ever dreamed of becoming a truly self-revealing singer-songwriter did it standing on the shoulders of one, Joni Mitchell," Carlile, who introduced her performance, said.

"Joni is one of the most influential and emotionally generous creators in human history," she continued. "She redefined the very purpose of a song to reflect the contents of a person's soul and before she took this leap, the popular song was observational. It was brilliant and influential, of course, but the exhilarating risk that we all now take by turning ourselves inside out for all the world to see started as far as I can tell with Joni Mitchell doing it first."

That night, she also won her 10th Grammy for best folk album.

In July 2022, Mitchell marked her first live performance in 20 years at the Newport Folk Festival, which was recorded and released in the form of the 2023 album. The singer, who had a brain aneurysm in 2015, said it took some time to get back into singing and playing the guitar again.

"I'm learning," she said. "I'm looking at videos that are on the net to see where I put my fingers, you know. It's amazing what an aneurysm knocks out – how to get out of chair!... You have to relearn everything."