We demonstrate that QCD gluon amplitudes can be used to construct a Lagrangian for gravity. This procedure makes use of perturbative 'squaring' relations between gravity and gauge theory that follow from string theory. We explicitly carry out the construction for up to five-point interactions and discuss a set of field variables in the Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian for interpreting the Lagrangian obtained from QCD. A spin-off from our analysis is that it can be used to provide simpler tree-level gravity Feynman rules than for conventional gauges. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.