Songwriters Hall of Fame Taylor-Made for Swift

John Mayer presents the country superstar with emerging artist nod at 41st Annual Songwriting Hall of Fame ceremony

Paul Simon. Leonard Cohen. Bob Marley. Phil Collins. Taylor Swift?

Surprisingly, last night none of these things was not like the others, as the aforementioned giants of music—and yes, that includes Swift—were honored (one posthumously) at the 41st Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony.

None other than consummate gentleman John Mayer was on hand to present Swift with the honor and he had just the words to mark such an occasion:

"She's no accident." Aw, that flatterer.

"You could put her in a time machine in any era and she would have a hit record," he went on. "Don't confuse everybody loving one thing as hype. Sometimes that's everyone agreeing that it's fabulous."

"Thank you so much to the Songwriters Hall of Fame for having me," the ever-composed and uninterrupted Swift said. "I have been so moved tonight."

But while Swift was honored at the New York fête, unlike the music vets that have a good few decades on the country crossover, the 20-year-old wunderkind was not inducted into the hall. Instead, she picked up the Hal David Starlight Award, given to emerging or young songwriters with promise.

Collins, a previous inductee, was honored with the Johnny Mercer Award, while Simon, Cohen, Marley, Earth, Wind & Fire, über producer David Foster, "Bette Davis Eyes" crooner Kim Carnes and M*A*S*H* theme song writer Johnny Mandel were among the night's other honorees.

Billy Joel, K.D. Lang and Judy Collins also sang tributes during the ceremony.