Updated June 17, 2017 08:53:51

Yoko Ono is set to receive songwriting credits on Imagine, almost 50 years after the song was released and decades after her influence was acknowledged by her late husband John Lennon.

The announcement was made at the annual meeting of the National Music Publisher's Association (NMPA) in New York, where Ono and her son with Lennon, Sean, were accepting the centennial song award for Imagine.

NMPA chief executive David Israelite made the announcement — a surprise to 84-year-old Ono — and showed a video demonstrating Lennon's desire for her to be credited.

In the clip of a 1980 interview, Lennon said Imagine "should be credited as a Lennon-Ono song".

"A lot of it — the lyric and the concept — came from Yoko, but those days I was a bit more selfish, a bit more macho, and I sort of omitted to mention her contribution," he said.

"But it was right out of Grapefruit, her book — there's a whole pile of pieces about 'Imagine this' and 'Imagine that'.

"If it had been a male, you know — Harry Nilsson's Old Dirt Road, it's 'Lennon-Nilsson'.

"But when we did [Imagine] I just put 'Lennon' because, you know, she's just the wife and you don't put her name on, right?"

Imagine was released in 1971 — 46 years ago — and was the best-selling single of Lennon's solo career.

In making the announcement, Mr Israelite said he was proud to correct the record.

"While things may have been different in 1971, today I am glad to say things have changed," he said.

"Tonight it is my distinct honour to correct the record some 48 years later and recognize Yoko Ono as a co-writer of the NMPA centennial song Imagine, and to present Yoko Ono with this well-deserved credit."

Ono has been fighting a flu-like sickness and had to be pushed onstage in a wheelchair, but spoke briefly while accepting the award.

"This is the best time of my life," she said, adding that her illness made her appreciate the song more.

Patti Smith performed a rendition of the song after the award and announcement were made.

The couple's son, Sean Lennon, shared a photo of himself and Ono with Smith and her daughter Jesse, saying it was "the proudest day" of his life.

According to Variety magazine, the process of adding Ono's credit is already underway but is yet to be confirmed.

Topics: music, music-awards, arts-and-entertainment, women, united-states

First posted June 16, 2017 23:08:37