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"While it is all but impossible to trace the actual history of the term "cover version," it is likely the term began to be used by record collectors once the early rock'n'roll records had become collectible. A widely-accepted origin of the term is that it relates to the record company "covering a bet" by placing a bet on a song someone else has already bet on, hoping to ride the coattails of their good luck. It has also been suggested that the term "cover" may have its origins in an attempt by the artist who recorded the newer version of the song to have his/her version literally "cover" the original version in the sales racks. Woolworth, a discount chain store, even had its own label (Embassy) specializing in low-price copies of popular tunes. Another commonly-suggested origin, also apocryphal, is that a new recording by a white artist was intended to "cover up the blackness" of the original and make it acceptable to white listeners."
 
""Cover version" is now commonly used to mean any recording of a song previously recorded by another artist (see, for example, the emergence of such websites as The Covers Project and Coverversionen.de).
 
Some collectors and researchers, however, distinguish between a "cover version" and a "remake:" "cover version" means one made soon after the original to cash in on its success, while "remake" means one made much later, usually at least partially for artistic reasons or as an homage.
 
Using these definitions, the 1956 versions of "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" by The Diamonds and by Gale Storm would be genuine cover versions of Frankie Lymon's original, but Diana Ross's 1981 version would be called a remake."