"i have no hidden agenda i am not trying to save a flagging pop career or trying to make a fast bit of cash......far from it....all i am saying is i share your love of the greatest music competion in the world and would be honoured to represent the UK".

Music & Lyrics by: Daz Sampson & John Matthews

Teacher: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Pupil: A pop star sir…

How many of us felt like saying this in the careers meeting at school? Well for Daz Sampson this is exactly what happened. At the time he got nothing more than a clout round the ear but now he will be realising his dream very publicly when Britain votes for him to represent the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest this year.

Daz wrote it about his careers meeting during his days at Avondale School. The "Mr T" he references is Mr Tommony, the teacher who initially dismissed his "classroom schemes and dreams" but ultimately encouraged him.

"I am a proud Brit and I'm doing 'Making Your Mind Up' because I care about how the rest of Europe looks at us. It pains me to see how badly we've done over the last few years so maybe it is time for a change and I'm bringing something different to the party. Let's hope Europe embraces it."

After early successes in his career with hit singles Rhinestone Cowboy (Giddy Up Giddy Up) and Kung Fu Fighting, Daz struck gold as one half of Uniting Nations when they scored 3 top 20 hit records last year, the biggest being Out of Touch which peaked at number 7 in the UK and was a colossal hit around Europe reaching number 1 in Poland. It spent an unprecedented 13 weeks in the UK top 20, selling over 100,000 copies, receiving over 20,000 plays on UK radio and earning them the title as the biggest names in the commercial dance scene and Best Dance Act as voted for by the Smash Hits readers and T4 viewers at the last ever Poll Winners Party in 2005.

What are your plans after Eurovision?
To become a D list celebrity! I am the most popular TV reality show winner to date - in terms of the percentages that I won by. Because whole families voted for me - which is why families from Latvia, Poland and Russia will vote for me. I'm not offensive, I'm just a working class hero from the streets and I'm doing a song which everyone can get because everyone's been to school. If you do this competition to try and get a career out of it then it jumps up and bites you. I'm not. Obviously if I won my profile would be raised, but first and foremost I'm on a mission to win Eurovision. And if I don't I'll be incredibly disappointed.

You know it's funny, but it seems to me that the more the United Kingdom fail, the more attractive the Eurosong seems to become for the Brits. And while the popularity of the contest is admittedly in crisis in many parts of Europe, in Barnstaple they've never had it so good. So it is with great pride I say that my hearth and home is finally dragging itself up by the bootstraps and making a decent fist of it. Oh, my bosom is heaving with songtastic pride.

During "Making Your Mind Up", the UK national pre-selection, South-East Greater Manchester Daz Sampson somehow managed to beat the monopoly of manufactured pop that the UK has sent for the last five dreary years. And, do you know, I thing Royaume Uni shall be finally rewarded for their eccentricity. You could argue that Mr Sampson is a tad too old for a talently-challenged rapping artist. But also consider the cheeky chappie, family-man persona, surrounded by a gaggle of 15 year old schoolgirls well into their awakening, and you have many considerations. I've got no doubt that the whole idea will be embraced by the old fella in Sarajevo, but will it be approved of by the single mother in Brussels? It won't finish first, but from my point of view, a win for the UK would be a top ten position. And I think Daz can do that, because he hasn't subscribed to the atypical UK arrogance of sitting on one's laurels and expecting victory, and has instead actually got out amongst the Europeans and spread our message of family entertainment (so long a big man can tell young girls what to do). To his immense credit, he's taking it seriously, and has already reserved his position in my canon of great Eurovison triers. You know, as much as I mock the whole Eurovision thing, I wouldn't be writing 250 pages of script if wasn't occasionally deadly serious about it. It's called passionate eccentricity. And the Brits do it exceedingly well sometimes..

"I wouldn't turn Daz away from the doorstep if challenged"
 

Stockport Daz loves Mr Silly

"'Woof said the chicken, and flew off…backwards'. Maybe the most marvellous line ever spoken in children's TV, if not the history of everything. Mr Silly lives in Nonsenseland, where the leaves are blue and chickens bark. Mr Roger Hargreaves was clearly on something, and whatever it was, I want some.
Needless to say Mr Silly won the day, impressing everyone, insulting no one, and making everyone laugh in the process. A true role model for the youth of today, and my hero".
 
 
 
 
  

Teenage Life

Now hear this

"What did you learn at school today?"
That's what the teachers used to say
But they don't know
Don't understand, do they
Why do they always give advice
Saying "Just be nice, always think twice"
When it's been a long since they had a teenage life

"What did you learn at school today?"
That's what the teachers used to say
But they don't know
Don't understand, do they
Why do they always give advice
Saying "Just be nice, always think twice"
When it's been a long time since they had a teenage life

Dwelling on the past, from back when I was young
Thinking of my school days and trying to write this song
Classroom schemes and dreams
Man they couldn't save me
Cos my days were numbered when I signed down on Avy
Teenage kicks running out what could we do
I still show respect to my boys who made it through
And getting told off Mr T how my life would be
Then giving him a signal
So everyone could see
Sunshine and shade
Those girls I'd serenade
Thinking of those sixth form chicks that misbehave
Hoping that those days would go on and on forever
Every day something new
Just friends running together
But suddenly school ends
Your teenage life gone
All your mates are growing up now
They're moving on
And now I'm looking back
I'll tell you what I know
Do you listen to your teacher?
No I don't think so

"What did you learn at school today?"
That's what the teachers used to say
But they don't know
Don't understand
Do they
Why do they always give advice
Saying "Just be nice, always think twice"
When it's been a long time since they had a teenage life

Now if you treat the kids fine, together they will shine
Ooh ooh ooh shine
And if you give the kids time, they won't do the crime
Won't do the crime

Now my bad old ways
Were during my school days
Messing on those grade A's
My life is just a haze
I'm going through the struggle
Five ten and kicking back
So I could lock my flow
Lace it up now on the track
Oh yeh I felt the pain
Whilst chasing all the fame
I'm being told I'm nothing
Just a player in the game
But now I walk tall
Stand proud for you to see
I'm driving these fast cars
It's five stars for me

"What did you learn at school today?"
That's what the teachers used to say
But they don't know
Don't understand, do they?
Why do they always give advice
Saying "Just be nice, always think twice"
When it's been a long since they had a teenage life
hello from daz sampson

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

hello everyone yes it is daz sampson here i have been reading some of the things on here with interest..and i think most of you get what i am trying to do.

i have entered this year as i am a huge fan of eurovision and it pains me to see how badly the UK have been doing in recent times....so i say if we are going to go out there and lose ..then lets go there with a track that's different...and that proves that the UK are not scared to try somthing new.

maybe just maybe europe will embrace this commercail hip hop sound...as hip hop & r&b is the most exported musical genre in the world right now.

i have no hidden agenda i am not trying to save a flagging pop career or trying to make a fast bit of cash......far from it....all i am saying is i share your love of the greatest music competion in the world and would be honoured to represent the uk.

thanks in advance for your support.

i cant really comment on that as i truly don't know...all i will say is that i feel the greatest musical competition in the world is in danger of not being here in 5 or 6 years unless we address certain issues.

ok lets but it like this…if we were a football team and we were losing every single game we played...then surely the manager would either be sacked or he would change his tactics and players.....

its the same thing...for the past few years we have struggled to finish top 15 let alone top 10 which for a huge eurovision fan like me is very upsetting hence the reason i am hear this year.

now love it of hate it i think one thing all eurovision fans will agree on is that my track is different and stands out...and in my view thus confirming to me that the UK are brave enough to take a chance.

yes people will say "love city groove" and that's fine personally i loved that record and bought it...but that was 1995 when hip hop rap was not even in the same league as it is now.

just look at all the charts around the world it is now dominated by hip hop ..R&B....rap.....as this music genre is now the most exported in the world.

so maybe in 95 the world wasn't ready but now there clearly is evidence to say that the world maybe just maybe now is.

sorry for my rant but i really do feel strongly on this subject and i hope i deliver a performance on march 4th that the uk public will like and back..

DAZ
“The rehearsal was fabulous,” said the UK’s Daz Sampson. “It was better than sex.”