"Distant Drums" is a song which provided US singer Jim Reeves with his only UK No. 1 hit – albeit posthumously – in the United Kingdom in 1966, some two years after his death in a plane crash on 31 July 1964. The song remained in the UK Singles Chart for 45 weeks. The single also topped the US country chart for four weeks, becoming his most successful posthumous single.

Although Roy Orbison had recorded the song in 1963, it is Reeves' version of "Distant Drums" which has endured over the years.

During its time at the top of the UK chart, the song beat off stiff competition from several major (and living) artists of the day. These included The Beatles - who had entered the UK chart around the same time with their double A-sided release "Eleanor Rigby"/"Yellow Submarine" - and the Small Faces, who had also charted in the UK with "All or Nothing".

It was an unexpected achievement for a song that Reeves had recorded for its composer, Cindy Walker, under the impression it was for her private use only and had earlier been dismissed by both the RCA record company and Chet Atkins (a noted guitarist and record producer who worked with Reeves) as unsuitable for wider public release.

This may have explained the lower than usual sound quality heard on the original recording of the song. However, following Reeves' death, the track was overdubbed with an orchestral backing and released to the public as the version that later climbed up the music charts in both the United States and the UK.

Perhaps because of the timing of the song's release (during the summer of 1966), Distant Drums attracted attention to the continuation of hostilities in the Vietnam War and an increased public awareness (both in the United Kingdom and the United States) of the difficult conditions faced by U.S. armed personnel fighting in that conflict. This is due to the lyrics implying the wishes of a soldier who wants to marry his beloved (called "Mary" in the song) before he answers the call of battle in some far away land; the "Distant Drums" which make up the song's title.

...
Wikipedia