 Several poems from Yoko Ono 's 1964 book <unk> inspired Lennon to write the lyrics for " Imagine " — in particular , one which Capitol Records reproduced on the back cover of the original Imagine LP titled " Cloud Piece " , reads : " Imagine the clouds dripping , dig a hole in your garden to put them in . " Lennon later said the composition " should be credited as a Lennon / Ono song . A lot of it — the lyric and the concept — came from Yoko , but in those days I was a bit more selfish , a bit more <unk> , and I sort of omitted her contribution , but it was right out of <unk> . " When asked about the song 's meaning during a December 1980 interview with David <unk> for Playboy magazine , Lennon told <unk> that Dick Gregory had given Ono and him a Christian prayer book , which inspired him the concept behind " Imagine " . 
