They were first published in Science Fiction Quarterly, May 1957, pp. 34–36.
They are included in three collections of Asimov's short stories: Earth Is Room Enough, The Far Ends of Time and Earth (omnibus edition) and The Complete Stories, Volume 1.
[1] The lyrics pastiche the Gilbert and Sullivan patter song known as "the (Lord Chancellor's) Nightmare Song" from Iolanthe.
The song depicts the agonies he goes through in thinking up a new science fiction story.
It notes that the process of devising a space opera is incompatible with living in the real world with all its "dull facts of life that hound you".