“Crookedile” is a rowdy garage rock song based around one lyric: “just say God is on your side.” This makes “Crookedile” the first released Gizzard song to bring up any sort of religious or spiritual aspect, which is revisited later on songs like: “God Is Calling Me Back Home,” “God Is In The Rhythm” and “Supreme Ascendancy.” It’s also the first time the band has ever done anything related to crocodilians, which would end up being an iconic aspect of the band’s imagery — such as the gator seen in the music video for “The River.” “Crookedile” was released on October 21st, 2011 as the fourth song on Willoughby’s Beach.
The first confirmed appearance of the song was on 2011-08-19 at The Esplanade Hotel in Naarm (Melbourne). The song stayed in rotation from then until early 2013, with the last known performance being on 2013-02-23 at the Corner Hotel in Naarm (Melbourne). Live performances of the song sometimes contained Stu singing the lyrics to The Stooges’ 1969 classic “I Wanna Be Your Dog.”