In his review of Every Picture Tells a Story in Rolling Stone, John Mendelsohn refers to the song as being "nearly as good" as the #1 single off the album, "Maggie May.

"[12][13] Rod Stewart biographers Tim Ewbank & Stafford Hildred refer to the song as "a stunning ballad.

"[14] Stewart has stated that his "goal in life is to play 'Mandolin Wind' and make it sound like the record.

[9] The liner notes to Every Picture Tells a Story list Quittenton only as the acoustic guitar player.

In his 2015 book, "Elton John, From Tin Pan Alley to the Yellow Brick Road," which chronicles the star's rise to fame from the start of his solo career in the late 1960s to the end of the 1970s, author Keith Hayward indicates the mandolin player might have been Davey Johnstone in one of his earlier session appearances prior to joining Elton John's band as his guitarist.