Originally a song recorded by Sakanaction's vocalist Ichiro Yamaguchi's high-school band Dutchman in 2002, it was later released by Sakanaction on December 5, 2007 as a double A-side digital single alongside "Word", two months before the band's second album Night Fishing.

The band gained exposure in Hokkaido after winning the audition to perform as a newcomer artist at the Rising Sun Rock Festival in Otaru in August 2006, and after demos of their songs "Mikazuki Sunset" and "Shiranami Top Water" performed well on College Radio Japan Sapporo.

It was released by the band on December 1, 2002 as an audition-exclusive double A-side, alongside the song "Inner World", and featured some of Yamaguchi's earliest experiments with synthesizer samples and four on the floor rhythm patterns.

[19][20] Since its release, "Sample" has been a staple of the band's live concerts, and five recordings have been released: the first two on the 'Night Fishing Is Good' Tour 2008 in Sapporo (2008) and "Fish Alive" 30min., 1 Sequence by 6 Songs Sakanaquarium 2009 @ Sapporo (2009) digital extended plays, followed by the video album recordings of Sakanaction's concerts at Shinkiba Studio Coast on May 15, 2010 and the Nippon Budokan on October 8, 2010, featured on their DVDs Sakanaquarium (B) and Sakanaquarium (C) (2011).

[25] The band re-arranged the song for their performance at the Taicoclub outdoor music festival, held at Kiso, Nagano on May 31 and June 1, 2014.

[26][29] This live recording session was included in the DVD for their single "Sayonara wa Emotion" / "Hasu no Hana", released in October 2014.

[32] The video begins by showing an iridescent scene of Mount Fuji at dawn, reflected in a lake.

"Sample" was heavily promoted on the music video channel Space Shower in January 2008.