Nobody is sure how John Dowland's Frogg Galliard earned its curious title, but it may have something to do with one of Queen Elizabeth I's suitors, the Duc d'Alençon (later, Duc d'Anjou), whom the Queen referred to as her "frog." It was one of Dowland's most popular pieces and became so well-known that some believed the tune to be common property. Thomas Morley arranged it for an ensemble in his The First Booke of Consort Lessons (1599) without giving Dowland credit as the composer. Many ballads were based on the Frogg Galliard and arrangements were published for virginal, cittern, and numerous other instruments. It was even used to set several different texts in the Netherlands. Dowland himself re-used the piece, as the basis for the song, "Now, O now, I needs must part," No. 6 in Dowland's The Firste Booke of Songes or Ayres, (1597). It is not certain which of the two came first. The Frogg Galliard is listed as Nos. 23 and 23a in Basil Lam and Diana Poulton's The Collected Lute Music of John Dowland.

The earliest known galliards, from early sixteenth century Italy, are paired with a pavan. These galliards are in a fast triple meter and generally feature three distinct phrases, or strains of eight, 12 or 16 measures, each immediately repeated. Dowland's galliards maintain this basic format, as well as the traditional triple meter, but in many, including the Frogg Galliard, the simple repetition of a strain has given way to a strain succeeded by a decorative variation of the strain.

There exist six known versions for lute of the Frogg Galliard, but only one carries Dowland's autograph. It differs from the others primarily in the varied repeat of the first strain, which consists of virtuosic triplets over a trochaic bass line drawn from the first strain. The most unusual aspect of Dowland's Frogg Galliard is its trochaic rhythm, which persists throughout the piece (as well as in "Now, O now"). It is the only one of Dowland's galliards to feature this rhythm, which is rare in galliards by English composers. This unusual feature has led some historians to suggest that the Frogg Galliard is derived from Adrian Le Roy's [c.1520 - 1598] Quand j'entens le perdu (1555), which Dowland may have seen while in France. Most impressive is the way Dowland subverts the trochaic pattern by drawing it out into hemiolas at the end of each strain.

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